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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrE 



THE STORY THE CROCUS 
TOLD 




EVERETT MERRILL HILL 




Nothing can righdy compel a simple and 
brave man to a vulgar sadness. — Thoreau. 

Strengthened . . . with joyfulness. — Paul. 



The Uplook Publishing Company 
Spok£uie 

The Lakeside Press 
Chicago 






One thousand copies of this edition of " The Story the 
Crocus Told" have been printed for the profit of those 
who would be profited, of which this is No. 



Copyright, 1909 

by 

EVERETT MERRILL HILL 

First Impression December, 1 909 



Cover Design by R. W. Little, Spokane, Washington 
Title-page Design by Herbert Jackson, Spokane, Washington 



Cci.A'.>5;r/7i 



T)EDICATION 

To the memory of m^ father, the embodiment of 
good cheer, whose brave heart never surrendered in a 
losing fight with fortune on a sterile New England 
farm; and to my mother, the incarnation of industry, 
whose heroic courage and unwearied hands never 
flagged in the ceaseless round of a self-sacrificing help- 
meet bringing her beneficent offerings to the ideal home; 
to the memory of these great-hearts, who gave me, not 
a fortune, hut a Faith, — this book is lovingly dedicated. 



CONTENTS 



I. 


The Heart of the Flower 


Page 

n 


11. 


Under the Morning Star . 


17 


III. 


When the North Wind Blows . 


25 


IV. 


Finding Hid Treasure 


33 


V. 


The Fragrance of Sacrifice 


43 


VI. 


The Song of Creation 


53 


VII. 


The Roots of Life . 


. 59 


VIII. 


The Loadstone of Home . 


79 


IX. 


Sunshine and Toil . 


. 93 


X. 


Play for Its Own Sake . 


107 


XI. 


A Chat by the Wayside . 


117 


XII. 


Coming Back to Eden 


. 125 


XIII. 


The Enemies of Unawares 


. 139 


XIV. 


The Crocus's Dream 


. 153 


XV. 


The Heart of the World . 


. 163 


XVI. 


The Will to be Glad . 


. 171 



CONTENTS 



XVII. The Chariot of Gladness . . .183 

XVIII. HeaUng By-Paths . . . .191 

XIX. The Magic of Confidence . . 205 

XX. The Language of Two Worlds . 213 

XXI. The House on the Rock . . .221 

XXII. Climbing and Singing . . .231 



FOREWORD 





FOREWORD 

^NE day I was standing on 
Monroe Street bridge watch- 
ing the Spokane River as it 
dashes over the lower falls 
and throws up a fine spray in 
which the Great Artist hung a rainbow, when 
a young friend strode by. 

**I measured that hole at the foot of the falls 
last year, when the water was low, and found 
it seventy feet deep,** said he. 

Think of it, a seventy-foot shaft bored into 
the living rock by the whirl of that frenzied 
water as it plunges over the precipice and 
hastens to the sea! How was it done? "Con- 
stant dropping wears away a stone,** and here 
it does not drop gently but rushes tumultuously, 
using everything that comes in its way as a 
3] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

weapon of offense. Every drop of water, too, 
carries its sharp-cutting instrument, and every 
moment for these many, many years, this giant 
auger has been plowing its resistless way into 
the basaltic mass. 

The power which blindly dug that hole in 
the rock during uncounted bygone cycles, a 
pov/er which had to jRnd expression somewhere, 
is now being used to light homes, iron clothes, 
and drive trains for the comfort and conve- 
nience of the citizens of the Power City. That 
is good, but that is not all. In the almost reck- 
less onrush of life, every wave carrying its 
freight and weapon, both a transport and a 
man-of-war, the responsibilities and cares, as 
natural to our existence as gravitation to matter, 
have dug great furrows and caves in human 
hearts and faces; the mind concentrating its 
energy to this result as unconsciously as the 
triple falls in the heart of Spokane have hol- 
lowed out the rocky river bed. A great En- 
gineer, some centuries ago, urged that instead of 
allowing this to happen the wise man would 
better use his energy for lighting his soul-house, 

[4 



FOREWORD 



ironing out the wrinkles from his forehead, and 
guiding the trains of progress after having 
hitched them to the eternal power-house. That 
Engineer has been more or less indifferently 
heeded, but His is a good word, and happy is 
the man who has made it his own. 

All our rivers flow with more or less hard 
water since they have traveled far from their 
soft-water source in the mountain lakes fed by 
the melting snows. The longer their journey 
the more silica they have gathered; and the 
more silica, the faster the cutting process. 
When it reaches the falls the Spokane River is 
quite soft, being comparatively near its source, 
a fact which offers a hint as to the vast stretch 
of time it must have taken to cut and gouge its 
flinty bed. Modern civilization is rich in in- 
tellect, hard with the gathered solutions of ten 
thousand years, heavy with the cutting instru- 
ments. The wild tribes which celebrated the 
potlatch on these shores lived long because they 
had not the double-edged sword of knowledge. 
To-day we have it, but we act as though our 
hands were not skilled in handling our weapon. 
5] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Like children unused to sharp knives we cut 
ourselves more than the object we would carve 
with shapely designs. 

Men are saying that we live too strenuous a 
life, but this is not true. The strenuous life is 
the twentieth-century life, and we are children 
of the age. The strenuous life belongs instinc- 
tively to those who dwell beside the rushing 
river that does things, the river that breathes in 
acres of oxygen and gives out rainbow-barred 
sunshine while the work is being done. The 
strenuous life is the birthright of those who in- 
habit the wonderful city that toils on, confident 
and of good cheer, notwithstanding the unjust 
discrimination which, like shackles, selfish and 
jealous neighbors have vainly put upon her, to 
impede her progress. The strenuous life is the 
vital breath of all Americans. We should live 
as long as the aborigines, and longer, though 
we tackle titanic tasks in the twentieth-century 
spirit. And we shall, if our souls are buttressed 
with as strong masonry to resist the downward 
thrust of nature as is built to make captive to our 
commerce the wild waters of an impetuous river. 

[6 




FALLS OF THE SPOKANE 



FOREWORD 



The motive of this book is that those who 
scan its pages may be helped to accompHsh 
modern tasks and yet not die of our modern 
diseases. May it prove as great a blessing to 
the reader as to the writer, not in making him 
less a worker but a more enjoyable one, on his 
own account as well as for "the other fellow,** 
because he has discovered that the Garden of 
Eden is where the Crocus Elf points. And if 
the voice of this Hero of the Flowers shall suc- 
ceed in arresting the attention of some of those 
whose hearts are breaking with the stress of our 
day, and arousing them to a more courageous 
and cheery life, the author will be abundantly 
repaid. 

E. M. H. 

Spokane, Washington. 



7] 



THE HEART OF THE FLOWER 



Out from the heart of the Crocus, 
There leaped to my heart a song; 

It was as though an angel 
Had borne the word along; 

And its message drew and held me, 
Until my soul was strong. 




THE HEART OF THE FLOWER 

S I went out into my garden, 

one fresh spring morning while 

the season was young, I was 

startled by a golden gleam 

from beneath my feet. 

"Is this the V^How peril' we have heard 

so much about,'* thought I, "or a thrust from 

the scepter of the ruthless rule of gold?" 

But the sheen of a golden cup reflected 
against a snowdrift soon told me that nei- 
ther Mongolian gems nor mammon greed 
had produced this saffron hue beneath my 
window. 

"It is the Crocus," I exclaimed, "the hero of 
the flowers," and I would have embraced my 
visitor. But being forbidden this privilege, I 
reverently bowed the knee. My worshipful 

II) 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

thoughts, however, were interrupted by the 
voice of the flower, which is so low that its color- 
wave of vibration measures only about one fifty- 
thousandth of an inch, as low as the voice of 
conscience! But being neither color-blind nor 
conscience-deaf, I heard the still small voice. 

Crocus : "You wonder at seeing me, but I 
am the messenger of Spring." 

Man: "I know that, my hero flower, but 
how could you be so brave as to face the frost 
and snow, the biting wind and pitiless storm?" 

Crocus : "Inner peace is worth the price of 
outer discomfort. Ease tempted me to stay in 
my warm earth-nest, but Life said, *Go forth 
and fulfil your destiny.' We do not live for 
ease of hand and limb, and heart' s-ease comes 
not then, indeed. There is joy in overcoming 
if with joy you overcome. No snow is cold 
enough to chill the glow that makes my petals 
golden, because my heart is glad. Spring's 
messenger was I created to be by the hand 
which lit yonder sun that glints the eastern 
hills, and whose fingers stretched the blue up 
there through which the stars smiled at me be- 

[12 



THE HEART OF THE FLOWER 

fore you came forth to bid me welcome. And 
should I not be what I was created to be? If 
not, what can I be? If not, why am I at all?** 

Man : **And yet I do not understand. Your 
voice is clearer than my brain. Men do not 
often do what they are commanded, or, if so, 
not as blithely as you. What is your secret? 
May not a man be as great as a flower?** 

Crocus: *'It is just as easy as looking up. 
The earth draws down, but the sun calls from 
the sky. My root is in the earth, but my heart 
seeks the sun. I follow my heart. I do not 
stop to think how hard my task, but do it. 
Brooding over the defeats of yesterday and the 
dangers of to-morrow makes you weak. Think- 
ing of the victories won, and how you shall 
conquer gloriously when the new day dawns, 
makes you strong. I will not think bad 
thoughts. They may come like a cloud, but 
they cannot enter, for my will guards the door. 
I will not doubt my friends, though only the 
faces of enemies are before me. Clouds may 
hide the sun, but my heart says that they have 
not destroyed my king. When the storms howl 

13] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

by your window you may still hear my voice 
in song." 

Man : "So frail you seem to be, and yet so 
strong, wonderful flower!" 

Crocus : "The number and strength of the 
enemy do not bring defeat, but your own fears, 
and a new fear is born every time you think in 
its terms. I will trust and not be afraid. Would 
you not better? I will think only in terms of 
success. Will not you, too? I have no closets 
for skeletons, but every one holds a living, sing- 
ing elf. You say you believe in angels, but 
why do you dwell with imps?" 

Man : "And may happiness, like an angel, 
dwell with a man as the elf of joy with the 
flowers?" 

Crocus: "Hardship is the shell of joy to 
the great-heart, and all may be noble who 
would." 



[14 



UNDER THE MORNING STAR 



While under the stars with God, 
To the flowers my sins confessing, 

I lost for aye the task, "to plod,'* 
But received the grace of "blessing." 



II 




UNDER THE MORNING STAR 

LL that day the words of the 
Crocus rang in my ears. 
Nothing could drown them. 
While at my desk the golden 
corolla swam before my eyes, 
and every petal had a tongue that spoke. In 
the noisy traffic of the busy street as it rumbled 
by, like the shadow of a rainbow, or the under- 
tow of the tide, there was the persistent voice of 
the hero of the flowers. When night came the 
sermon of the morning returned in my dreams. 
It is little wonder, then, that with the first faint 
gleams of dawn, while yet the morning star 
shone brightly, I was again in the garden seek- 
ing for a further revelation from my new-found 
prophet. 

Man : "Wonderful flower, your words will 



17] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

neither let me work nor sleep. *A11 may be 
noble who would.' How can this be?" 

Crocus: "The will, the will, son of man, 
is the secret. The throne-room is sometimes 
used for a stable, but it was furnished for a 
royal palace." 

Man : "The will ! I had always supposed 
that religion took away one's will and that 
faith was the rule of life." 

Crocus : "There has been a mistake some- 
where. Of course you must have faith in the 
Eternal Father whose image you bear. That 
is as necessary as that light comes from the sun. 
I would not have you have less faith but more 
will, and when both are present in full power 
there need be no failure anywhere." 

Man: "But it is not possible for all men 
to have faith." 

Crocus: "It seems ungracious for a 
flower to contradict a man, but I must do so. 
All men have not faith, but all may have. If 
faith has not come to you through heredity 
there is always the will to believe." 

Man: "The will to believe! You startle 

[18 



UNDER THE MORNING STAR 

me again. I imagined that one had to believe 
what his intellect assigned as proper/' 

Crocus: "No, not so. Again the flower 
shall lead you into the right. Men are crea- 
tures of prejudice. This is both their weakness 
and their strength, their weakness when it in- 
clines to the wrong, their strength, when right is 
the loadstone. It is not the intellectual diffi- 
culties that make doubters and infidels, but 
heart hurts and disappointments. The intellect 
and the heart are but servants of the will whose 
command commissions to point out the good, 
show what is best to believe. Here is where 
the betrayal too often takes place. The heart, 
because of pique, persuades the intellect to 
point out the wrong road; the will drives that 
way and the wreck of faith and usefulness is 
the result. But the well-balanced mind looks 
up and sees that the pole-star of his life is the 
open mind, free from all narrowing prejudices. 
Because he beholds this he also sees that the 
very foundation of his existence pre-supposes an 
Eternal and All-Wise Creator and Lover of 
his soul. And then he wills to do what that 

19] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

One demands without reference to circum- 
stances, since he is sure that the Lover- Judge of 
all created things will do right. If you will 
follow out the doctrine of the flower you will 
find that the highest longings of your nature 
will meet and make friends with the loftiest 
ideals of the race." 

Man: "But may I bring this wonderful 
philosophy into my daily life ? Can a man make 
a business of his religion as the flower makes 
the gift of perfume and beauty the sole object 
of its existence?" 

Crocus: "To produce joy and peace 
ought to be the ambition of every man even as 
mine is to give forth beauty and fragrance. 
Joy may be nourished anywhere. A snowdrift 
under your window did not forbid my smiling 
at you from its shadow. Shall not a man be 
as great as a flower? The harder the ground 
is frozen the more golden my petals become in 
the battle to cut my way through. You too 
shall find the greatest victory in the hardest 
battle." 

Man: "But why have you told me all 

[20 



UNDER THE MORNING STAR 

these things. Crocus? Why have I, the least 
of all my brethren, the great honor of knowing 
your wonderful secret?*' 

Crocus: "Because I saw that you were 
not too proud to listen to the least of all created 
things. I have yet more to reveal to you before 
my story is done. But this secret is not for 
you to keep, for if you try to hold it for your 
own, you shall lose it. Go tell all men that in 
any and every situation in life, under all cir- 
cumstances and everywhere, there is an op- 
portunity for joy if they follow my lead. Tell 
them that hardship is but the shell of joy to the 
great-heart, and all may be happy who 
will." 



21] 



WHEN THE NORTH WIND BLOWS 



Flower in the crannied Wall 

I pluck you out of the crannies, — 

Hold you here, root and all, in my hand; 
Little flower, if I could understand 

What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is. 

Tennyson, 



Ill 



WHEN THE NORTH WIND BLOWS 

"Happier the thrifty blind-folk labor, 

With upturned eye while the hand is busy, 
Not sidling a glance at the coin of their neighbor! 
*Tis looking downward makes one dizzy.'* 

HE words rang out from the 
chapel across the way where 
a devoted woman was teach- 
ing a boys* choir. Like an 
echo of the music the voice of 
my flower friend struggled through to my con- 
sciousness. 

Crocus : "The universal heresy is looking 
downward." 

Man: *T know. Crocus, but why?" 
Crocus: "Why is it that the river runs 
down the incline of its mountain-side bed?" 
Man : "The only reason I can give is that 
25] 



fw^'jf" 


T 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

of the scientist, — because it is natural for water 
to seek its level." 

Crocus : "But that is no answer. Why is 
it natural for water to seek its level?" 

Man: "I do not know." 

Crocus : "Art thou a lord of creation and 
knowest not this? Because there needs to be 
a strong current for life to breast that in its 
overcoming it may continue to be life. When 
the north wind blows, face it. The bird 
mounts on the contrary wind. When nature's 
thrust is downward, resist it. Strength comes 
from conflict. The promises of two worlds 
are only *to him that overcometh,' as you 
would know if you read more carefully a cer- 
tain Book in your library. There is no reason 
why water could not have been given proper- 
ties that would have made it flow up the moun- 
tain side even as there are gases which rise 
indefinitely. But it pleased God to constitute 
this most valuable liquid so that the pull of 
gravitation should send it headlong down can- 
yon and mountain gorge. But having led it, 
with swift footsteps, to the hungry sea, the 

[26 



WHEN THE NORTH WIND BLOWS 

sun*s strong horses, harnessed to great cloud- 
like caravans, soon cart it back again. Have 
I not seen you, in your younger days, and 
many others like you, eagerly watching the 
sun's long line of water wagons as they wound 
up the steep incline of the eastern sky? *The 
sun is drawing water,' you curtly explained to 
the unthinking and the blind. The rumble of 
those great wheels over the hollow rim of the 
sky, the cracking of the long whip of the fiery 
driver above the arching necks of his coal- 
black steeds, and the splashing overboard of 
some of the cargo, ever and anon as the axles 
jolted in passing a particularly bad piece of 
road, have aroused the ambition and fired the 
soul of many a lad to lift great loads and climb 
high. I know, for the soul of the boy is like 
the soul of the Crocus." 

Man: **Go on, teacher mine. You are 
shriving my soul." 

Crocus: "The moral purpose of the uni- 
verse is to develop life. With this motive at its 
center you can see that it is not only deadly to 
look beneath but it is health-giving to look 

27] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

aloft. It is health-giving to look up, as it takes 
effort to do this and all effort brings results. In- 
dividual effort is the absolutely indispensable 
thing in life. Activity means health; inaction, 
disease. The dead fish float down stream; the 
living fish swim toward its source. And because 
this finny creature of the deep essays the rapids 
it continues to live, to exert energy, to swim 
against the current. Life is a circle. The 
power to do any one thing depends not only on 
doing it but continuing the undertaking." 

Man: "What a dumb creature I am! 
And it took a flower to tell me that the fish, 
whose flesh has often nourished my body, had 
a word that would strengthen my soul!" 

Crocus: "Even so. Men are masters of 
creation whom all created things would serve 
in their struggle upward toward the heavenly 
places. But in their very eagerness to reach 
the goal they overlook some lowly hand out- 
stretched to help. The fish has a secret to im- 
part from its realm as the Crocus from his. 
The whole universe has myriad voices for the 
listening ear. The reverent soul 

[28 



WHEN THE NORTH WIND BLOWS 

*Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones and good in everything,* 

as certain also of your own poets have said. 
The swimming of the fish upstream is but a 
suggestion of the way you are expected to 
travel. This creature bids me tell you that to 
him life is not a desert waste but a mighty river 
with a strong current, and he who succeeds 
must breast the flow, struggle against the tide, 
conquer nature. And you doubtless know 
that the nature to be conquered is not to be 
found in forest jungles alone but in the wilder- 
nesses of the soul, where some men wander 
twice forty years and never find a stable gov- 
ernment. But it is the glory of a man that he 
may become victor over nature both without 
and within." 

Man : "To become victor within ! *There 
remaineth yet very much land to be pos- 
sessed.' " 

Crocus : "Truly so. While the continents 
are rapidly becoming occupied, the soul of 
man has much outlying territory that is a veri- 
table terra incognita. There may be men seek- 

29] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

ing the north pole who would do well to make 
strenuous search for the undiscovered country 
within their own natures. From this unsur- 
veyed region encroach the wolves and tigers 
which ravage the flocks, and the little foxes 
that spoil the vines/* 



[30 



FINDING HID TREASURE 



Flowers are love's truest language; they betray 
Like divining rods of Magi old. 
Where precious wealth lies buried, not of gold, 
But love — strong love, that never can decay! 
Parl^ Benjamin: *' Flowers Love*s Truest Language." 



IV 




FINDING HID TREASURE 

[AN: "I have taken your 
gentle hint. Crocus, and am 
reading my Bible. On every 
page I find lustrous jewels. 
But over in Nehemiah I un- 
earthed a veritable treasure chest. Surrounded 
by all manner of valuable things, in its very 
center I discovered this wonderful chain of 
gems: *The joy of the Lord is your strength.' 
What a rosary is this, and it has been lost 
so long ! And yet it was not hidden to people 
passing near. Though twenty-four hundred 
years have toiled by in solemn processional 
they have, like priest and Levite, passed by on 
the other side, and we humans have gone with 
the crowd." 

Crocus: "It is wonderful with what little 
33] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

difficulty men lose the good. But this wide 
gate, swinging so easily on its hinges, is nat- 
ure's downward invitation. There is a subtle 
pull and gravitation toward the underworld 
for both of us, but there is also a call from 
among the stars to come up higher. The only 
difference is that I heed the sun's command, 
but man drowns God's voice in his useless 
noise and fuss." 

Man: "I am beginning to see this. But, 
to go on with my experience, my discovery be- 
came linked in my mind to another, a century 
or more before Nehemiah's time, the discovery 
of the *Book of the Law,' as recorded in the 
Chronicles of the kings of Israel. With hun- 
dreds of priests, scribes, and temple servants to 
care for it, the sole rule and guide of the na- 
tion was lost. No one knew where it was and, 
more, no one seemed to know there was any 
such thing in existence. One day, after two 
hundred and fifty years of heedless disregard, 
when the temple was being cleansed and re- 
paired by the good king Josiah, Hilkiah the 
high-priest, came to Shaphan the scribe and 

[34 



FINDING HID TREASURE 

said, *I have found the Book of the Law in the 
House of the Lord.* That discovery w^rought 
a nation-wide reformation. This fact of an- 
cient history would be of Httle significance to 
me were it not that at this very hour a similar 
thing exists among us. That wonderful book, 
the Bible, the source of civilized man's riches 
and greatness, has a place in every home; its 
text founds every pulpit, its story builds every 
church, its doctrines fill all literature, and its 
gospel is recognized as the hope of the race. 
And yet, in the midst of it all, its central 
theme has been lost. I would that my dis- 
covery might arouse us as Israel was aroused 
on that other day." 

Crocus: "What a splendid vindication 
you have given me of my theory that time in 
itself is powerless to change man's nature any 
more than that of the flower. Since that sad 
day when man's eyes were turned downward 
and he lost his bearings it has been hard for 
him to look up. All the centuries between 
then and now have not made it any easier. 
Man's nature is the same. But you have dis- 

35] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

covered a key that will unlock the door of hope 
to all mankind. *The joy of the Lord is your 
strength.' Does it make your heart glow and 
nerves thrill? But that is what it was meant 
to do. If you can get mankind to build 
this precept into their souls you will revolu- 
tionize society. Tell them that it is not the 
bitter lament of Job's comforter. Eliphaz the 
Temanite, *Yet a man is born to trouble as 
the sparks fly upward,' that they need, but the 
cheering words of the king's cup-bearer, *The 
joy of the Lord is your strength.' " 

Man : "O Crocus, if it only could be true ! 
You know that the Bible teaches that we must 
repent, be sorry for our sins, and deny our- 
selves daily that we may be counted worthy to 
enter in. Then, too, the prophet announced 
that the Saviour was to be *a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief.' How shall we 
reconcile these things with what you say?" 

Crocus : "I see you still have a protest to 
make before surrendering to the sunshine that 
shall drive all the clouds away! What you 

[36 



FINDING HID TREASURE 

have said is true. It is good and necessary to 
be sorry for sins, but when godly sorrow has 
brought forth true repentance, why should you 
sorrow more ? Because you did not start in the 
right way sooner? But sorrow will not change 
the past. About the Master being a man of 
sorrows I am familiar, for some of your the- 
ology floats out of the window and lodges on 
my petals! While the seer beheld Him as 
such and the vision was fulfilled in his life, yet 
He did not accept it as His mission to men. 
He did not proclaim gloom and sadness. 
Zacharias prophesied that He should be *the 
day spring from on high,' earth's sunrise of 
God, and you believe that He fulfilled this pre- 
diction as fully as the other. Moreover, He is 
recorded to have wept but once. Could any 
living man match that? The most of you, if 
all your tears were put up in a bottle as David 
prayed the Lord to do with his, would fill to 
the brim more than one large-sized flask. You 
have discovered the secret of life. Renounce, 
then, your sad-faced philosophy, put on glad- 

37] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

ness as a garment, and thus surpliced preach 
the Gospel, the Good Cheer, to men dying of 
gloom." 

Man : "But what about the devil, Crocus? 
Is not he strengthened in his rule by merriment 
and mirth?" 

Crocus : " 'Resist the devil and he will 
flee from you.' Laughter is no more the devil's 
instrument than the sweet-voiced violin. Genu- 
ine joy creates the strength of resistance. 
Human counterfeits of this blessing intoxicate 
for the time and leave weaker than ever. *The 
joy of the Lord,' not of lost souls, is your 
strength. But in truth there is no joy, *there 
is no peace, saith the Lord, for the wicked.' 
The fact is that you men do not want to get rid 
of the devil, and any excuse is sufficient to fore- 
stall the necessary effort; you have never made 
a united attempt to that end. And, too, the 
human race wastes enough energy in sighs and 
vain regrets to whip this arch-demon out of civ- 
ilization and off the planet. Why do you do 
it? Because it is easier to surrender than to 
fight; because it is easier to look downward, 

[38 



FINDING HID TREASURE 

and you take the course of least resistance. 
Like water, you are ready to seek your level.'* 

Man: "It is all too wretchedly true. We 
are a race of opportunists." 

Crocus: "But is your level beneath? 
Has not water in its journey from ocean to 
cloud a lesson for you? Is not the secret of 
Jesus Christ's power His readiness to allow 
the Deity above the clouds to draw Him 
thitherward? If the prophet, looking down- 
ward according to human methods, called Him 
a man of sorrows, shall you, therefore, refuse to 
accept the divine method of looking upward, 
which He so gloriously vindicated? If the 
shell of life be rough and broken may not the 
heart be healthy and sweet?" 



39] 



THE FRAGRANCE OF SACRIFICE 



Aromatic plants bestow 
No spicy fragrance while they grow; 
But crushed or trodden to the ground, 
Diffuse their balmy sweets around. 

Goldsmith: ** The Captivity." 




V 

THE FRAGRANCE OF SACRIFICE 

GAIN I walked in my garden 
as the morning star faded. 
The flower prophet had stirred 
me to the depth. Like Isaiah 
of old, I too was receiving 
my call and consecration, only, instead of 
the seraphim as the agents of Jehovah, the 
modest lily was speaking to my heart. I 
waited for a word from my new-found friend, 
but in vain. There was no speech, no lan- 
guage, nor any utterance from among the dainty 
flower-folk. 

**Or,*' thought I, "perhaps my ears are too 
heavy this morning, and while the message is 
spoken it does not reach me. The teacher is 
giving instruction, but the pupil's dullness for- 
bids it admission.'* 



43] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Suddenly, from the very depths of my soul 
a voice seemed to say: "These things have I 
spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in 
you and that your joy might be full." I was 
startled, and thought, at first, that it was the 
Crocus. But the voice was different, and at 
last I decided that Memory was speaking. 

"The modern mind is like a sieve and can- 
not hold its contents long. We pay too high 
for the pencil and note-book, the typewriter, 
and loose-leaf ledger. When the 'blind old 
bard of Scio's rocky isle' sang his matchless 
epic there were a multitude of rhapsodists who 
could and did repeat the song from city to city, 
singing the story as he gave it to them, repro- 
ducing it from memory without hesitation or 
mistake." 

Thus I mused with myself. "But it must be," 
thought I, "that through the influence of the 
Crocus, whose bulb holds all its past in its 
treasure-vault, I am to have brought back to 
my mind the truths that shall strengthen me to 
do God*s bidding." 

"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy 

[44 



THE FRAGRANCE OF SACRIFICE 

transgressions for mine own sake, and will not 
remember thy sins." 

"As far as the east is from the west, so far 
hath He removed our transgressions from us." 

"Fear not: for I have redeemed thee." 

"The ransomed of the Lord shall return, 
and come to Zion with songs and everlasting 
joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and 
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
away." 

Like arrows from an unseen archer these 
golden shafts came winging into my con- 
sciousness. As one after the other they took 
lodgment In my heart, is it any wonder that I 
should grapple with myself in astonishment and 
cry out in the language of Israel's sweet singer, 
"Why go I mourning?" "Why art thou cast 
down, O my soul?" "Thou hast turned my 
mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my 
sackcloth, and girded me with gladness." 

Man : "Crocus, I must speak to you, now, 
and tell you how my memory is awakened, I 
doubt not, through your fragrant influence, to 
the fact of joy in human life. I remember that 

45] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the angel's message at Messiah's birth was: 
'Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings 
of great joy which shall be to all people.' And 
the angel chorus took up the strain until the 
heavens resounded, and the reverberations have 
never ceased to ring around the world. I re- 
member that the wise men from the east 're- 
joiced with exceeding great joy' to find the babe 
of Bethlehem. I remember also, when He had 
reached His matchless manhood, that John the 
Baptist speaks of Him as a man of sorrows but 
as one entering into the most joyous relation 
in life: *He that hath the bride is the bride- 
groom: but the friend of the Bridegroom 
which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth 
greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice : this 
my joy therefore is fulfilled.' " 

Crocus: "Since joyful memories have 
opened your heart to my words, do you speak 
to me, for you must know that *The Lily of the 
Valley' is father to my life, and His story is 
sweet to me." 

Man: "I remember Jesus' own words: 
*Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be 

[46 



THE FRAGRANCE OF SACRIFICE 

turned into joy.' And in His great prayer 
just before the last great struggle He prays 
that His disciples might have His joy fulfilled 
in themselves. How utterly we have misread 
the Gospel if we think of Christ as sorry that 
He had to undergo the cross and shame for us. 
While the flesh shrank from the hateful gibbet 
yet it was the deepest joy of His existence, the 
very wine of His life, that it was His privilege 
to be the Saviour of the race. He gave His 
life a ransom for me, not grudgingly but gladly, 
with a joyous abandon. His lips might twitch 
as they touched the cup, but His whole being 
was exultant as He drained it to the dregs. 
The ecstasy of His soul is indescribable to us 
earth-dwellers, for we have not been through 
Gethsemane. And having tasted the shame 
and agony He could turn to His disciples and 
say, as the victory throbbed through every vein, 
*Now ask and ye shall receive, that your joy 
may be full.' " 

Crocus : "But so it was all along the way. 
His joy was ever full.*' 

Man : "I remember that the early Church, 

47] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

too, ever dwelt upon this great thought. Life 
to the fathers was a deep and blessed thing. 
*What matters a little trouble in the flesh?' said 
these great-hearts. *It is but for a moment. 
This is the hour of the prince of darkness, but 
His hour cometh.' And then their songs of 
praise made grove, or cave, or catacomb to ring 
again. They had, indeed, overcome the world 
with their Master. So they *took joyfully the 
spoiling of their goods' ; they went to the dun- 
geon, the block, or the lions with shouts of 
victory. They had obtained joy and gladness 
and for them sorrow and sighing had fled 
away." 

Crocus ; ** 'Light is sown for the right- 
eous, and gladness for the upright in heart.' " 

Man: **I remember how Peter speaks of 
the 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' and 
Paul takes pleasure in reproaches and perse- 
cutions for Christ's sake. Writing to his fol- 
lowers he urges: 'Fulfil ye my joy,' for, says 
he, 'I am filled with joy.' I remember how 
James talked of ^counting it all joy' when 

[48 



THE FRAGRANCE OF SACRIFICE 

temptations come, and the way Jude closes 
his Httle book, which, even though it is so short, 
must echo the same thought, *the exceeding 
joy.' I remember all these things and now that 
I speak of them I marvel that I ever forgot 
them." 

Crocus: "In what mazes and labyrinths 
of tortuous turnings have you mortals been 
wandering that you have so mislaid your 
strong-box with all its hard-earned treasure? 
Men imagine life to be sorrowful, but death 
alone has that distinction. With all the rest you 
will doubtless remember that your Master once 
said: *I am come that ye might have life and 
that ye might have it abundantly.' But His 
idea of life is that it is a thing of beauty and a 
joy forever. But fragrant flowers cannot grow 
in underground prisons, neither is the joy of life 
found by living down in a dark, dank cellar. 
Joy comes unbidden when you climb the sun-lit 
highlands. *Tis looking downward makes one 
dizzy,' but looking upward, struggling upward, 
with your face ever toward the sunrising, — that 

49] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

makes clear-brained and strong because it 
makes glad. Do you, therefore, climb to the 
summit with God; and there is glory in the 
heights." 



[50 



THE SONG OF CREATION 



Plundered, beaten, stripped by a band of savages, 
five hundred miles from the nearest human help, Mungo 
Park tells how he flung himself down under the blazing 
African sun to die. As he lay despairing, a tiny bead of 
moss caught his eye. It was no bigger than the tip of 
his finger; and yet as he looked at the exquisite shaping 
of its roots, leaves and capsule, he asked himself whether 
the Mind which planned and sheltered and brought to 
such perfection of beauty that tiny bead of moss could 
forget him. The tiny speck of vegetable life had for 
him the office of a prophet, it spoke to him with proph- 
et's lips. "I started up," he said, "and, disregarding 
both hunger and fatigue, travelled forward." 
W. H. Fitchett: "The Unrealized Logic of Religion/* 




VI 

THE SONG OF CREATION 

[AN: *'We may not gild re- 
fined gold but we may inquire 
whether it is as valuable as 
men say. So I would not at- 
tempt to crown joy but ask 
what is its true place in our world? A plant 
may teach a man, for your species has lived 
longer than mine." 

Crocus: "Joy gave strength to the right 
arm of Jehovah as He hammered out the hinges 
of the universe on the day of creation; it in- 
spired the song of exultation to the rhythm of 
which our Lord Creator laid the corner-stone 
of the earth *when the morning stars sang to- 
gether'; it buttressed the heart of the world's 
Redeemer as He climbed up Calvary's hill of 
death." 



53] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Man: "But may the joy of God be 
man's?" 

Crocus : "As the sap to the stalk and root 
of the flower, so is joy to man. It is the blood 
of his soul, and *the blood is the life.' With- 
out joy, your life is abnormal and unhealthy; 
with joy, it is full and strong. Without joy, 
life is Veary, stale, flat and unprofitable,' bar- 
ren of fruit and withered with the blight of 
death; with joy, it is rich and fruitful, whole- 
some and unafraid." 

Man : "If we may trust the sacred writers, 
you are a better expositor than the average 
theologian who puts this virtue in about the 
third place. The Bible uses the word *joy' 
over a thousand times while *faith' falls short 
by two hundred and *love' reaches only about 
half this number. The Crocus's emphasis is 
the Bible's emphasis. It is *with joy that we 
are to draw water out of the wells of salva- 
tion. 

Crocus : "As the joyful life is the blessed 
life, so what can be more sad than the joyless 
life } For this means the loveless, faithless life. 

[54 



THE SONG OF CREATION 

Would you go to meet your God with an empty 
soul? But what makes a full, rich Hfe? Does 
a fat purse, or large possessions? Can the cattle 
on the hillsides browse along the banks of mem- 
ory's stream? Will the song of the dollar make 
music in the innermost recesses of one's being? 
Is the tenement with its narrow court and low 
ceilings, its rags and despair, the best original 
for paintings to be hung on recollection's walls? 
No, the Crocus guide leads not this way. *A 
man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things which he possesseth.' The story the 
Crocus is telling you, which was made the text 
of many of the Master's sermons, is re-echoed 
from every lawn and flower-plot. The flower 
is your true logician, seeking first the Kingdom 
and knowing that all the rest will be added. 
The heart of the Crocus is glad not because he 
has a cup of gold, but he has a cup of gold be- 
cause he is glad." 

Man: "Since I have met you. Crocus, 
every tree and flower and blade of grass is a 
prophet of the Most High." 

Crocus: "Then let me not shun *to de- 

55] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

clare unto you all the counsel of God.* Is your 
soul lacking in gladness? Then you are poor 
indeed, though rich as Dives in gold and silver, 
in stocks and bonds and lands; a pauper in all 
those things which go to make true riches. 
Your poverty, too, has come openly, publishing 
its approach, for you have wilfully neglected 
the sure means of building up your fortune, the 
means given so lavishly to the child. But if 
wonder-working joy is treasured, if not only the 
child but the youth, the young man, the man in 
his prime, and he who steps with the caution of 
long years down the western decline shall each 
sacredly guard the power to laugh and be glad, 
then this life shall return to its Giver full and 
complete, rich, strong, and abounding. For joy 
is the master-builder. Cheerfulness adds the 
good and subtracts the ill. Gladness girds with 
strength. And strength, how good it is! In 
God's good strength you shall overcome, and 
when the overcomer knocks, the eternal doors 
swing wide for him to enter." 



[56 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 



Flowers preach to us if we will hear. 

Christina G. Rossetti, 



VII 




THE ROOTS OF UFE 

CROCUS: "The joy of the 
Lord is your strength.* You 
made a splendid discovery 
when you brought this word 
to light. But have you, as 
yet, put it to practical use in your daily tasks? 
Do your new-found riches make life more de- 
lightful? If not, then you are a miser. There 
is nothing that is valuable unless it be valuable 
in use." 

Man: "I must say that my treasure is as 
yet rather unreal, a sort of dream without much 
but hazy splendor and rainbow glory. But, 
Crocus, you have opened my eyes and un- 
stopped my ears, doubtless you will be able to 
revolutionize my whole being." 

Crocus: "With your careful attention I 



59] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

shall hope to do this. The primary meaning of 
the word 'strength/ as you well know, is to re- 
inforce, to buttress. Just now, on your way 
home from the city, you passed over a bridge. 
The steel trusses that you saw there make the 
real strength of the structure. Without these it 
would hardly bear its own weight. By means 
of these trusses the bridge is braced against it- 
self, as well as against the piers at the two ends, 
and so is equal to any load. Your life is a 
bridge that stretches between two worlds. With 
the gladness of God to brace your soul, the 
bottomless chasm beneath is safely spanned. 
Trusses of joy annealed from the heart of God 
will make your bridge equal to any burden. 
But failing in this reinforcement your bridge 
will collapse and fall hurtling into the nether- 
most depth." 

Man: "Oh, teach me well, that I may 
escape this danger!" 

Crocus: "Let me use another analogy. 
In your great power reservoirs you build mam- 
moth dams to hold back the tremendous volumes 
of water that are necessary. These restraining 

[60 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

dams are always comparatively narrow at the 
top but widen as they descend until at the base 
they are several times broader. Thus buttressed 
they are able to withstand the mighty pressure 
that is there. Your friend Nehemiah thought 
of joy in just this way. The joy of the Lord 
is the buttress of life. Without it you are an 
unsupported weakling, a naked soul. With it 
you are like a great dike that holds back the 
sea. A storm rages in mid-ocean, but as the 
breakers beat like a besieging army against your 
fortifications you smile at their rage. Your soul 
is buttressed to God and is strong. The crises 
of life shall not disturb you.** 

Man: **May God give me such buttress- 
ment.'* 

Crocus: "We shall see how He will 
answer this prayer by looking into your physical 
basis of life. Your body is a wonderful build- 
ing that needs much buttressing. If its mission 
allowed it to stand like the pyramids of Egypt 
it would not take much hurt from life's little 
day. But the difficulty is that history does not 
make on the highways that pass by but in the 

61] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

courts and anterooms, the apartments and pas- 
sageways of the edifice itself. Baggage and 
food-stuffs have to be carted through its entries, 
and there is danger that in handHng the crates 
and cases the furniture may be marred, or the 
plastering knocked off. Friends and enemies, 
too, will pass each other along the landings and 
stairways, but they must not provoke strife. 
There may be street brawls without, but there 
can be no altercation within ; and the faces that 
look out at the windows must always reflect the 
sunshine. *That there be no schism in the body' 
joy should traverse it as unhindered as the 
blood runs red through the veins. If all the 
functions of the body are exercised without 
friction there will be abounding pleasure in liv- 
ing. This is the delight of health. But the *oil 
of joy' sloughs the sand out of the bearings and 
gives health the right of way." 

Man: "I am listening with my whole 
soul." 

Crocus: "Health is the inheritance of 
both men and flowers. We creatures of the 
garden are never sick because we know how to 

[62 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

eat. You mortals have digestive troubles with- 
out number, not by reason of what you eat, but 
because of why and how you eat. In the first 
place it is wrong to eat simply to live. You 
would better live to eat if you had to choose be- 
tween the two alternatives. Think of endeav- 
oring each day to sort out the foods that shall 
give the proper chemical elements to the body I 
That is not your business. Trust your digestive 
functions and cease to try to help them in their 
task. Your help here is a hindrance. I allow 
my roots to choose and sort the mineral foods 
that are to be taken into my system. I have no 
fear that they will appropriate the poisons that 
belong to the dining table of the deadly night- 
shade. Let your taste do the same for you." 

Man: "I am finding not only beauty and 
perfume but wisdom in the flower." 

Crocus: "You take your eating too se- 
riously. Make your dining table a recreation, 
not a task. As self-consciousness blights your 
powers in the pulpit, so body-consciousness will 
destroy the food values for you. And the latter 
is the chief bane of your physical existence. 

63] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

The functions of your body are secretive and, 
like a timid child, overmuch attention abashes 
and destroys their powers. Do you not re- 
member, when a boy and there was company in 
the parlor, of being pushed into the august 
presence, and when the organs of speech re- 
fused to perform their accustomed functions, of 
being asked, *Have you lost your tongue?' So 
any of the bodily faculties may be paralyzed 
by too much publicity. There was far less 
dyspepsia among you before you understood so 
well the methods employed by the digestive 
system and the necessary chemical elements 
needed to support life. Your far-famed health- 
foods have created more diseases than they have 
cured." 

Man: "Surely this golden Crocus is to 
make the waste places bloom if the dining table 
is to be redeemed." 

Crocus: **I have spoken of how the taste 
is the judge of what is good for you. The sense 
of taste is the sentry at the door of your fortress 
of health. The palate is the arbiter and what 
is relished is to be eaten and nothing more. But 

[64 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

having partaken of foods most agreeable let 
them now be enjoyed. The time element must 
enter in here. Taste them and continue to do 
so until all flavor has gone from them. Allow 
each morsel to linger a while near the gateway 
whence it entered, giving an opportunity for the 
arbiter to extract the full reward for his labor, 
and do this with no thought of wilfully aiding 
the digestive apparatus, but for very enjoy- 
ment's sake. Your great statesman Gladstone 
used to bite each piece of food thirty-two times 
in order to masticate it thoroughly. Gladstone 
was a great nation builder, but I protest that his 
statecraft showed more wisdom than his method 
of keeping body and soul together. His dining 
program smacks too much of slavery. Indeed, 
the result he sought is reached in the indirect 
way, and many of the best things of life are 
obtained as a by-product.*' 

Man: *'I remember that Saint Paul di- 
rected : *Eat what is set before you, asking no 
questions for conscience' sake.' " 

Crocus : "True ; and the boasted wisdom 
of your day has not outrun this injunction. It 

65] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

is not so much what you eat as the enjoyment 
that is put into it that makes it beneficial. That 
dyspeptic's bane, mince pie, is not so harmful 
as the determination so many people have to 
make it live up to its record. As the Midianites 
were defeated before ever Gideon led his three 
hundred invincibles against them, so the dys- 
peptic's stomach throws up its hands before its 
owner sits down to the table. The unfortunate 
individual has served notice on his digestive sys- 
tem that it is to receive an invasion it will be 
impossible to away with. Then he follows up 
the suggestion by tumbling a whole meal into 
his alimentary canal, dessert following piece de 
resistance and entree with reckless disregard, as 
the coal man shovels his load into the cellar 
chute. Is it any wonder there is a gastric de- 
rangement?" 

Man: **I am learning more about the 
source of health, from you, Crocus, than my 
family physician ever taught me." 

Crocus: "The night is coming on, and I 
am glad, for look with me up there along the 
Milky Way. Do you see that little cloud on 

[66 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

Orion's sword-hilt? I have heard you read 
how that cloudy substance is the star-dust out 
of which the planets and suns are made, and 
that the process of world-building is still going 
on. Is it not a glorious thought that God is still 
working, building new worlds out there on the 
circle of the heavens, and you and I can see 
Him in His workshop? But while the heavens 
readily declare the glory of God a certain 
earthly occupation is so far from this as to make 
angels weep. It is for you to teach men that 
this must not be, that the dining table is a divine 
institution where God is also building up the 
processes of existence which form the vehicle of 
a life that is of so much more value to Him 
than all the suns and stars that there is no com- 
parison ; for the mystery of digestion is as mar- 
velous as the miracle of world-building.*' 

Man: *'As I cannot help God build a 
world up there, no more can I assist in rebuild- 
ing this body by laying profane hands on its 
delicate functions. Is this your meaning?" 

Crocus: "Yes; but you can mar the re- 
building here by those same profane hands. 

67] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

All this marvel and mystery must not be borne 
in upon you while you are partaking of the 
satisfying viands. This must be wholly disre- 
garded. Forgetfulness is to be your motto now, 
forgetfulness of everything but the pleasure of 
eating. You should talk, of course, for it is 
wicked to eat alone. You may even gossip 
about your neighbors, provided they be used 
gently as you hope to be dealt with. You will 
laugh, relate anecdotes, saunter along the high- 
way of memory, plucking the fruit from the 
overhanging branches. You are thankful, 
natural, care-free, even careless, eating for the 
joy of satisfying your healthy appetite, and yet, 
withal, utterly unconscious of that fact. You 
do not hurry for, if time is money, food also 
may be thus designated. What is lost in time 
will be saved in the amount of food, for the 
longer you eat, comparatively speaking, the 
less you will need. Doctors' bills, too, will be 
eliminated, for 

*Joy, laughter, and repose 
Slam the door on the doctor*s nose.* " 

[68 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

Man: "Truly, Crocus, it is strange how 
often the means becomes the end to us mortals. 
I suppose it is not so with you who live the real 
life that God designed for you. I am some- 
times inclined to believe that the only aim and 
object of the city street-car system is for the in- 
dividual car to get to the end of the line. At 
least so it has seemed on the many occasions 
when I have failed to catch my car. And when 
you think of it, that is just the way most men 
eat. With them the principal thing is to get 
through." 

Crocus : "I know friends of yours who are 
afflicted with nervous dyspepsia and ordinarily 
are very careful about their diet who, when they 
attend a banquet comprising all sorts of so- 
called indigestible foods, eat everything that is 
set before them and feel no bad effects. The 
reason for this is that time is given for each 
morsel to be enjoyed, since, between the mouth- 
fuls, the soul is fed as well. Here laughter and 
joy have their rights, and the liver, which would 
do its task in secret, is forgotten and in this for- 
getting is unconsciously given the finest tonic in 

69] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the world — gladness. *A merry heart is a good 
medicine,' as your wise man of Israel truly said, 
*but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.' " 

Man: "That these things are so is as cer- 
tain as that the fragrance of your petals delights 
me. But why is it so? Why all this haste? 
Why is it so difficult for man to eat his food 
with calm gladness, unhurried and unafraid?" 

Crocus: "It is but the recurrence of na- 
ture's downward thrust. Wild beasts are pro- 
vided with gastric juices that dissolve and digest 
unmasticated food, raw, living, quivering flesh 
that they have torn from their prey and bolted 
whole because there was no time to do other- 
wise if they would get their share of the booty. 
Hunger is one of the primal passions. Men 
have it in common with the lower animals, and 
they are healthy, physically, in proportion as 
they have appetite. But like all fundamental 
passions it defeats its own end by its unreasoning 
haste. Appetite would eat much, but its rapac- 
ity makes it eat little and denies all enjoyment 
in the eating. Appetite crowds every other 
function to get its meed of nourishment, but 

[70 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

its very importunity harms itself, for life is 
a unity and all the faculties are propor- 
tionately blessed or defrauded by the actions 
of one. Appetite is blind and blindly fol- 
lows need ; but without intellect and conscience 
to guide, the blind will lead the blind and 
both shall fall into the ditch. But here is 
man's opportunity. In the very resistance of 
this natural passion in its animal, or irrational 
characteristic, is to be found the chance to add 
to moral and spiritual stature. That a man is 
tempted to run wild is no more reason for his 
yielding than that a flower should turn back to 
become a weed.*' 

Man: "Then you would make every im- 
pulse downward but the scaffolding for building 
another story to our character building?" 

Crocus: "Emphatically. Every one of 
the primal passions which you have in common 
with the brutes that perish, has not only the 
element of preservation, self and racial, but in 
your species there is the added item of pleasure. 
For example, the sense of smell in the brute 
exists that it may minister to his hunger by lead- 

71] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

ing him to his prey, or to his fear by guiding 
him away from those who would prey upon 
him. But in man this function has lost much 
of its power of sensing those things which are 
solely for the bodily comfort or safety. Rather, 
the olfactory nerves minister to the beautiful in 
mankind, to the esthetic, to the spiritual nature. 
You enjoy us flowers because of our beauty 
and fragrance. The sweet incense of spring 
feeds the imagination, the earth itself pours out 
a rich perfume from the new-made furrow, and 
every tree of the forest gives a sweet though 
delicate odor to the nostrils of man and his soul 
is enriched thereby." 

Man: "You would teach me that appetite 
in the realm of food and drink must give an op- 
portunity to minister to the spiritual as well as 
to the physical?" 

Crocus: "The larger its contribution to 
the spiritual, the better it will serve the 
physical." 

Man: "This is an ideal worth striving 
after, but we are very far short of it." 

Crocus : "You are far short of it, as your 

[72 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

patient wives too well can testify. How ab- 
surd, indeed, for these good women to spend 
hours of toil and many horse-power of nervous 
energy in creating delicious foods with the 
thought of tickling your palates and making 
eating an exquisite delight, if their husbands are 
to bolt the toothsome morsels as though they 
were bitter medicines to be rushed past the por- 
tals of taste without arousing the sentry!'* 

Man: "Our sin in this particular is very 
great.** 

Crocus: "Yes, it is great. Among you 
mortals the dining table seems to be the last 
place to come under the control of the rational 
nature. In many a home the meals are but 
regularly recurring spasms that might be called 
'nightmares while you wake,* so unsatisfactory 
are they to both housewife and the hurried mor- 
tal who eats and runs away, not that he may 
live to eat ainother day, but that he may go 
through the motions of living and satisfy, in a 
measure, that physical conscience called the 
stomach. His perplexed wife looks on with 
clouded and anxious eyes at the three times per 

73] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

diem feat of her husband and wonders if *hash' 
would not as readily suffice as her carefully pre- 
pared and time exacting menu. I doubt not she 
wishes that she belonged to the apostolic suc- 
cession and might preach a sermon on eating, 
the text of which would be, *Tell me how you 
eat and I will tell you what you are.' '* 

Man : "And Paul tells us to do our eating 
religiously : 'Whether ye eat or drink, do all to 
the glory of God.' " 

Crocus: "And the great Christ, too, 
taught that eating is one of the divinest institu- 
tions of human existence. He made the taking 
of food and drink in companionship with kin- 
dred spirits the last and most striking monument 
of His earthly pilgrimage. He lifted it up from 
the plane of the trough to the heavenly places 
and showed by His own example how beautiful 
the dining table ought to be, a place of com- 
radeship and love, of genuine joy and good- 
fellowship. If you will take a little time for 
your meals, and with your family and friends 
put gladness into them, you will discover that 
that much-abused organ of digestion which has 

[74 



THE ROOTS OF LIFE 

fallen so into disrepute in the last days, will 
gather up and do its work in such a way as to 
make your earthly existence both a pleasure 
and a benefaction. Because the cave-man had 
to follow the lead of the brutes in their neigh- 
boring jungles and fight for every morsel he ate 
is no sign that haste should be the chief point in 
modern table etiquette. Men and women who 
have learned to say *Our Father who art in 
heaven* have time in which to enjoy the bless- 
ings of eating and drinking, since they may 
safely trust their good God and Father to give 
them their meat in due season. As long as the 
shadows daily lengthen across the hills mankind 
may confidently rely on their Maker. His 
promises are sure.'* 



75] 



THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 



Sweet letters of the angel tongue, 

I *ve loved ye long and well, 
And never have failed in your fragrance sweet 

To find some secret spell, — 
A charm that has bound me v^th witching power, 

For mine is the old belief. 
That midst your sweets and midst your bloom. 

There's a soul in every leaf ! 

M. M. Ballou: ** Flowers.' 



VIII 




THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 

[AN: "Good morning. Cro- 
cus, friend of mine. I have a 
good report to bring to you. 
My wife and children tell me 
that my associations with you 
are doing me good, since I am making my meals 
a comfort to them where before they say that 
they were not even a pleasure to myself." 

Crocus: *T am glad if I have helped you 
so soon. But you are in good company in 
your family fellowship. To gather about the 
board was one of the delights of the early fath- 
ers. When a man finds that the dining table 
is central in the physical life he will have dis- 
covered the home, and that were a discovery 
worth while. You who are a deep student of 
history will bear me out when I say that to sit 
under his own vine and fig-tree was one of the 
79] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

deepest instincts of the Hebrew race, the most 
wonderful race of antiquity. But your own 
clan, the Anglo-Saxon, is not one whit behind 
in the homing instinct. When I speak of the 
home I am not referring to the dwelling that 
happens, for the time, to act as a shelter, but 
of something deeper. To you who boast that 
the blood of Hengist and Horsa flows in your 
veins there is an indefinable something that at- 
taches to the thought of home. It is conceiv- 
able, in fact, that there may be no dwelling ; no 
roof to shut out the curious light of the stars, 
or walls to protect from wild winds or savage 
beasts or still more savage men. Its habitat 
may be a humble tent, or a mansion with ceiled 
chambers. But whatever or wherever it is, 
there is there a secret, spiritual thing that thrills 
the soul." 

Man: "I am beginning to understand." 
Crocus: "Are you then enjoying your 
hearthstone? Few things affect you for good 
outside of those which you enjoy. But remem- 
ber that it is not the four walls of the house 

[80 



THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 

that shall delight you, since absence or presence 
of wooden or other walls and partitions has 
little to do with the meaning of your earthly 
haven. A lion may have a lair and a bachelor 
a den, but it takes a man, a woman, and a child 
also, to make the home. No one of these alone 
is equal to the task, but all the family together, 
bound in the sweet thraldom of a love that is 
stronger than death, create that sacrament 
called by you the home. Where pure love ex- 
ists, relationships are always sacramental." 

Man: "But how far short of the sacra- 
ment some of our homes fall." 

Crocus: "The more need that you shall 
bear my message to men. There was a time 
when people imagined that they could love 
their families too much, make idols there and 
place them before God. There is little danger 
of this. If one person has ever been taken to 
heaven because of too much love bestowed 
upon him, ten thousand have made the leap 
into the beyond starving for affection. The 
modern difficulty is that your sacred home is 

81] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

deteriorating into a mere house or apartment 
where several persons live together but have 
little in common except the name." 

Man : "Again I must plead guilty for my 
race. 'Israel doth not know, my people do 
not consider.' " 

Crocus: "But you will not any more sin 
against your family. You will enjoy them, 
take time to do so. You will make plans 
whereby your home is not left with such un- 
ceremonious haste in the morning. If you have 
been in bondage to your business, well — ^you 
will refuse that task hereafter. Let chattel 
slaves lodge in the dark hovels of medieval 
times, but let modern manhood reign as king. 
The serf who was chained to his plow needs not 
to be the prototype of the merchant chained to 
his desk. The soul of the thrall who toiled 
amid the oaks of early Britain may have been 
freer than is he whose heart is locked within 
steel vaults with golden ingots, and the son of 
the modern captain of industry may inherit a 
more binding thraldom than the heir of that 
ancient bondage. Do you, then, beware lest 

[82 



THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 

the liberty of the individual of to-day shall 
mortgage that of the child of to-morrow, and 
the ancient implements of servitude, with new 
names but the old intent, shall reappear upon 
the necks of your children.'* 

Man: *'I feel as though the sins of my 
people rested upon me and you were digging up 
briers from among their roots.'* 

Crocus: **I speak to the race through 
you. The greatest need of the home, which is 
a world in miniature, is not so much a business 
administration, than which there is nothing you 
moderns affect so assiduously, as an administra- 
tion of sweet gentleness and Christian love. It 
is incumbent upon you, on whose shoulders 
have been placed the responsibilities of other 
lives, not only to give place to love as an inci- 
dent but to work at it as a task. And it is a 
task with heavy obligations, but in results it is 
wondrous light; its yoke is easy, exhilarating 
the soul rather than bowing it down. There is 
both a science and an art, a theory and a prac- 
tice of love. Most folks have the theory, but 
many have not applied it to practical life. The 

83] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

theory may be spun out wide and never cover 
an aching heart, but the practice, while not so 
poetical, smooths out the wrinkles and finds the 
sweet along with the bitter. I saw a man who 
wrote poetry about his wife's rosy cheeks and 
then let them grow wan with neglect. I saw 
another returning with eager footstep to the 
holy haunts of home. He is such a one as is 
described by one of your great ones: *The 
domestic man, who loves no music so well as his 
kitchen clock and the airs which the logs sing 
to him as they burn upon the hearth.' Before 
he has had time to push open the side gate there 
is a shout from within and his boys, vaulting 
out like unbroken colts, climb upon his back, 
his girls leap into his arms, while the good wife, 
with cheeks aglow, throws kisses to him from 
the door. This man has 'solaces which others 
never dream of.' I knew without being told 
that that father and mother made chums of their 
children. I knew without court witnesses that 
those children would never need the attention 
of the truant officer. I knew without informa- 
tion from Mrs. Grundy that that man, though 

[84 



THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 

he might not be able to write rhymes about the 
roses on his wife's cheeks, could put them there. 
Without any less show of affection at the fu- 
neral, a little more beforehand would comfort 
the living and not harm the dead. If you desire 
to answer the atheist, know you that it is the liv- 
ing present crowned with the loving heart that 
proves the existence of the living God." 

Man: "O, Crocus, how true you speak! 
God help me to make men see." 

Crocus: "Now and then it seems as 
though a family was ordained to be a burden 
and an anxious care. But nothing is farther 
from the thought of Him from whom every 
family in heaven and earth is named. A fam- 
ily is a treasure-box of joys. But too often the 
mother alone realizes the riches that are there. 
You fathers should come into your God-given 
inheritance. You should be the playmates of 
your boys and girls, entering into their sports 
with real pleasure. God gave them to you to 
keep you young, to hold back the body from 
decrepitude by forcing you into the romps that 
bring back again your forgotten childhood days. 

85] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

You must take time to enjoy your home, or 
else perhaps, like riches, it will take to itself 
wings and fly away. You must also take God 
into partnership that you may not only be play- 
mates, but priests of heaven to all that dwell 
beneath your roof. To romp with father and 
mother and then to pray with them, what could 
mean more to your sons and daughters? If by 
taking anxious thought you cannot add one 
cubit unto your physical stature, by taking lov- 
ing, faithful thought you will add many cubits 
unto your children's soul-stature. Fathers, 
mothers, aspire for and with your children. 
Aspiration is a great builder. Blessed is that 
father who would climb alongside of his boys 
and the mother who builds air castles with her 
girls. Blessed are those children who can look 
into the future through the eyes of a good 
father and mother, for they have a tremendous 
advantage over others. The top is not so far 
for them. They started part way up the lad- 
der.*' 

Man: "While you have been speaking, 
Crocus, I have been thinking that many a rich 

[86 



THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 

man is a bankrupt as far as his family is con- 
cerned. I can think of nothing so bad as the 
bankrupt home, the home into which a splendid 
reserve was placed at the organization of the 
company, but which was dishonestly used to 
carry outside securities. I heard a story the 
other day of just such a case. A successful 
business man tells how his father kept a stone 
wolf with a slot in its back on the kitchen shelf. 
All the money from the produce of the farm 
went into that wolf and later was invested in 
land. This father of a large family was am- 
bitious to be a great landed proprietor. In 
order to carry out this ambition, the mother 
worked ceaselessly, doing all the housework 
alone, as the money to hire help must go to feed 
the wolf. At forty she was an old woman. She 
would sometimes ask the privilege of a holiday, 
a little trip to the city, but she was denied for 
the sake of the wolf. She used to long for a 
book or magazine to read, or a chance to hear 
a lecture or enjoy a musical entertainment, — 
for some escape from the deadly barrenness of 
her life; but when the cost was considered the 
87] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

wolf got the money. She begged that her 
children should have an education, but the 
father's ambition could not be sacrificed. From 
every standpoint the home life was hard and 
cruel. After a while the overworked wife 
died of a broken heart, the boys grew up igno- 
rant and reckless, and the land that had been 
bought with the lifeblood of the mother and 
sons lost its value because the railroad did not 
pass that way. The father had sacrificed his 
whole family for an ambition that was blighted 
at last." 

Crocus: "But suppose it had been satis- 
fied. Suppose this man had become the pro- 
prietor of a great landed estate with his family 
the price in the bargain, what had he gained? 
What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the 
whole world and lose his own household? 
Money, money, you mad men, what is it worth 
if it cannot buy comforts for your loved ones? 
But what an opportunity is the family for an 
investment of cold, dead dollars with the sure 
result of rich and happy hearts ! But 'only he 
who sees takes off his shoes' that he may run 

[88 



THE LOADSTONE OF HOME 

and grasp that god of fortune by the forelock. 
'The rest sit round.* ** 

Man: "May I have my feet shod with 
seven-league boots that I may be swift to over- 
take all good fortune for those I love!" 

Crocus: "From the standpoint of the 
Roman slave-market, money incarnated in 
human flesh brings larger returns than that 
turned into swine's flesh. And yet when Jesus 
healed the wild man of Gadara the owners of 
the swineherds gathered from far and near and 
besought Him to depart out of their coasts. 
They preferred the maniac in the tombs, crying 
and cutting himself, provided their stock was 
safe on the hillsides, to this poor creature sitting 
and clothed, and in his right mind, at the price 
of a herd of hogs. Thus Rome and Jerusalem 
are brought into odious comparison, and the 
heathen city is found guilty of the lesser sin. 
In proportion as the idea of God becomes ab- 
stract and He Himself is established far 
away on the threshold of the universe, out of 
reach of men's personal and business affairs, 
the worth of man is reduced. Even Jupiter, 

89] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

hurling his thunderbolts from Olympus, en- 
dowed with all the weaknesses and passions of 
human kind, is preferable to a God who is but 
an abstraction. The Lycaonian city was more 
ready to fall down and worship when the man, 
impotent in his feet, leaped and walked at the 
word of the preacher, than the prejudiced relig- 
ionists who believed in God but forgot men. 
And it may be that the city which sat on her 
seven hills would have repented in sackcloth 
and ashes had it had the opportunity of hearing 
the preaching of Him whom the Kidron capital 
crucified." 

Man: "And He was God incarnated in 
human flesh." 

Crocus: "And happy is he who realizes 
this and knows that because He has proved that 
God can dwell in human clay it is the supreme 
task of every father and mother to sacrifice 
everything to the cultivation of the divine in 
their children. The home was designed to be 
the anteroom of heaven. May you make it so 
that your children shall not wander forty years 
in a wicked wilderness before they shall dis- 
cover the gate of pearl." 

[90 



SUNSHINE AND TOIL 



The hallowed lilies of the field 

In glory are arrayed, 
And timid, blue-eyed violets yield 

Their fragrance to the shade. 
E. C. Kinney: "The Spirit of Spring/' 



IX 




SUNSHINE AND TOIL 

^NE morning as I was digging 
about my flowers I was espe- 
cially struck with the way 
these beautiful creatures put 
in their time scattering their 
fragrance. Unconsciously I burst out with 
"My, but you splendid things, how you do 
tend to business! And you seem to like your 
work. But who wouldn't enjoy scattering such 
sweet odors and reflecting the sunshine? If we 
men had as pleasant tasks we, too, could keep 
busy and never get tired.** 

For all that I had had so many conversations 
with the Crocus I was somewhat startled when 
his voice reached me through the mist of incense 
that he had helped to raise. 

Crocus: *'The reason the flowers enjoy 
their work is because they do not stop to won- 
93J 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

der why they do it, but just obey their Maker's 
command. It is not the kind of work that makes 
the worker glad but the spirit with which it is 
done. If you work for one you love there is 
no hardship in it. It is this spirit that makes 
it so natural for my fellows to scatter their 
fragrance. And when once you work out of 
love for one you love the meanest task will soon 
become pleasant.'* 

Man: "Tell me more about this. Crocus. 
My kind needs much help here." 

Crocus : "The last time we met we were 
talking of the home. We found that your 
Master believed in sacrificing everything to the 
making of manhood. But there is no possi- 
bility for the development of manhood unless 
you have an occupation. *If amy man will not 
work neither shall he eat,' is the command of 
your Bible, but it may well be added, neither 
shall he develop a strong character. Sweat is 
a necessary adjunct to human life. And to en- 
joy one's work is the only royal road that has 
ever been built up the steep mountain of 
success." 

[94 



SUNSHINE AND TOIL 

Man: **And my people worship success.'* 

Crocus: **There is that man who lately 
occupied the President's chair in this great 
nation. To him work is a delight. When he 
was congratulated on becoming a private citi- 
zen where he would have less of the burden of 
the world to bear he showed his strong jaws in 
a broad smile and said, *I like my job.' That 
is why it became so hard for you to give up 
having him sit in the White House for another 
term, — you would almost have put him there 
against his will, — for he made it a genuine 
pleasure to serve you." 

Man : *'I love that man, for he knows how 
both to be tender and severe, and he does not 
know what fear is." 

Crocus: "You must have an occupation, 
you must enjoy it, and you must expect that 
the way must sometimes be rough and danger- 
ous. Paul was a better and stronger man be- 
cause of the thorn in the flesh. Be determined 
to enjoy whatever comes. I would not have 
you play at your work, but that does not mean 
that the sun may not shine through your office, 

95] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

or shop windows. Joy is a real requisite for 
success everywhere, and so here. A man with a 
small capital but a large stock of good cheer 
will succeed where a morose man with large 
holdings will utterly fail. You cannot defeat 
a man who is filled with joy. He may go down 
under the fierce onrush of brutal circumstances 
seemingly combined to destroy him, but if he 
keep his good cheer he will come up on the 
crest of the next wave serene and unconquered. 
The peace of his soul has saved him. Glad- 
ness cultivated until it is second nature is an un- 
failing adjunct of success, and one's uncon- 
scious power is worth well-nigh the conscious 
energy he expends." 

Man: "Then you teach that good cheer 
is the best part of a man's stock in trade?" 

Crocus: "Assuredly, and ill humor is 
like a fire in the hold of a ship ; it will certainly 
sink her. The spirit of melancholy and gloom 
that will undermine the nervous system will also 
clog the channels of trade. A sallow face will 
tinge the most prosperous calling with a saffron 
hue. The mind complexion will soon be the 

[96 



SUNSHINE AND TOIL 

business complexion. Your business will be 
what you make it. The image and superscrip- 
tion stamped upon it is the likeness of the man 
who manages its affairs. Its spirit is his spirit. 
Is it an oppressive atmosphere that hovers over 
your desk? Is the thought of the daily grind 
uppermost while you are at the store ? Do you 
enter your office door in the morning as a slave 
driven to his task? Then there is something 
wrong, and either you or your business will 
soon be carried out on a stretcher. Bank- 
ruptcy of fortune or health is the only outcome 
to such a situation." 

Man: *'But may it not be possible. 
Crocus, that a man may be in a business that is 
not congenial to him, and yet be unable to 
get out of it? How can he enjoy what he does 
not like?" 

Crocus : "I do not believe in such a situa- 
tion, but if there is no help he can at least enjoy 
it for the pleasure he has in using the profits 
for his friends and loved ones." 

Man: "I am glad you spoke thus, for I 
find some who are in this situation. I have 

97] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

received help here from the words of a friend 
who has a lecture on 'Feeding Hogs.' I had 
a curiosity to know how he handled his sub- 
ject, and when I asked him, this is what he 
said: *I saw a farmer friend of mine feeding 
his herd of shotes he was fattening for market 
and said to him, "That's interesting business 
you are at." He looked questioningly at me, 
supposing I was joking, but seeing I was serious 
he said, "Interesting business! I don't see any- 
thing interesting in feeding hogs. I want to get 
out of the unsavory job." But,' continued my 
friend, *I began to remonstrate with him and 
remarked, "Why, you don't want to get out 
of this work. It's a first-class business. See 
here. You feed the hogs and then haul them 
to market, and with the money you give your 
daughter a musical education, your son a col- 
lege and professional training, and your wife 
anything she wants. Why, listen, I can hear 
the Hallelujah Chorus coming out of that pig's 
throat right now, while he eats! And don't 
you see the silk dress and sheepskin hanging on 
to that other hog's back?" ' My friend stopped 

[98 



SUNSHINE AND TOIL 

a moment as a gleam of humor mounted to his 
eyes, and then said, *That man got his eyes 
opened, and the next time I visited him he 
shouted at me before I could get out of the 
buggy, "Say, parson, I can hear the Hallelujah 
Chorus from the pigsty now myself!" 

Crocus : "That is just the point. If your 
occupation is not the best in the world, at least 
you can take pleasure in it because from it is to 
come the wherewithal to bless your loved ones 
and save the world. But I still insist that you 
must enjoy your business, if it is morally clean, 
and if not you should abandon it at once. You 
must enjoy your business, for this is but self- 
preservation, which your scientific friends de- 
clare is the first law of nature, though for my 
part I have my doubts of this." 

Man: "Still I am learning from the flow- 
ers beneath my feet. I believe my garden is 
more productive of great thoughts than my 
library!" 

Crocus: "In business there is the tempta- 
tion to think small, mean thoughts. It is often 
said that business must not be hampered by 

99] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

considerations of character and happiness, since 
cold, commercial principles can have no deal- 
ings with the inner, soul life. But this is all 
wrong. Because we are ever finding the recur- 
rence of the law of all existence which ever 
pulls downward, and business is not exempt 
from this universal condition, is not proof that 
man should not resist its influence. Every 
spring the golden crocus throws down the 
gauntlet to your race of worldlings as it pushes 
up through the frozen ground and, through the 
ice and snow, smiles at the sun. Where there's 
a will there's a way. It is a matter of the choice 
of the individual combined with a determination 
to reach the chosen goal. The oft-repeated ex- 
cuse, *But it's so hard!' is no reason. The 
difficulties of life form the occasion for the ver- 
tebral column in man. Were there no loads to 
lift or obstacles to overcome, a notochord 
would do as well. After God had canvassed 
the whole brute creation and found no fit com- 
panion for Himself, He said, *Let us make man 
in our image.' But He did not make him per- 
fect and complete out of hand. He set His 

rioo 



SUNSHINE AND TOIL 

image in his soul and sent him forth to repro- 
duce that likeness in his life. In the relation- 
ship of man with man in the commercial realm 
is found a most magnificent field for the de- 
velopment of this image, since it presents the 
most and severest tests. The great kings among 
you are discovered like Saul of old, *hidden 
among the stuff.' " 

Man: *'The test of life is always the 
builder of Hfe, then?" 

Crocus: "You have declared it. The 
man who is out in the world, meeting all sorts 
and conditions of men under all the varying 
circumstances that the highway of life affords, 
is beset by every temptation that is common to 
the race. He is ground between the upper and 
nether millstone of savage competition and com- 
mercial intrigue. He is tossed like an autumn 
leaf betwixt Scylla and Charybdis, the jagged 
rocks of another's encroaching selfishness and 
the maelstrom of his own personal ambitions. 
He is gripped like a vise between the law of life 
and the facts of life. Such a man in such a 
position, if he shall achieve what his soul de- 

101] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

mands, must be a hero. And a *hero is the man 
who is immovably centered.' I must quote 
back for you what you read to me just a few 
days ago. You remember how in the *Sea 
Voyage' the brutal Juleta comes at the brave 
captain and his goodly crew, now helpless in 
his toils, with: 

* Why, slaves, *tis in our power to hang ye.* 
To which the valiant master replies: 

'Very likely, 
*Tis in our powers, then, to be hanged, and scorn ye.*" 

Man : " *Self-trust is the essence of hero- 
• » »» 
ism. 

Crocus: "Yes, when that self is trusted 
to Omnipotence. With faith as uncompromis- 
ing as the Himalayas heroism is no strange 
phenomenon. It makes common souls uncom- 
mon and toilsome roads luminous. It frees your 
men affairs from the swaddling clothes of com- 
mercial hysteria. What cares he for the 
incidental wave that smites his bark? It is 
some passing gust, a momentary frenzy of the 
dying tempest. There is no terror for him in 

[102 



SUNSHINE AND TOIL 

all the wilds of the world, for he is a citizen 
of the Kingdom, and the continents and hemi- 
spheres of time are but mere islands in the eter- 
nal ocean, and he knows and has fellowship 
with the One who holds them all in the hollow 
of His hand. Does his bark sail some strange 
waters there is no fear in his soul, for says he, 
*Are not all these the seas of God?' If he be 
on a journey over a rough road through forest 
jungles where dangers threaten he laughs and 
declares, *We are still on the King's highway!' 
When his friends speak of enemies he calmly 
says, *But I have a friend at court' And so 
his face ever reflects the glory of the morning. 
It is as though you could hear the song of 
angels in the echo of his voice, and the glint of 
seraphim's wings in the shadow of his smile. 
Will that man fail? Not unless God fails." 
Man: "And what shall I say to this?" 
Crocus: "Rather what shall you do? 
Go and do likewise." 



103] 



PLAY FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



Day stars! that ope your frownless eyes to twinkle 
From rainbow galaxies of earth's creation, 
And dew-drops on her lonely altars sprinkle 
As a libation. 

Horace Smith: "Hymn to the Flowers.' 



X 




PLAY FOR ITS OWN SAKE 

[AN: 

** * All the world's a stage 

And all the men and women 
merely players.* 
Does that sentiment meet your 
idea of the mission of the 
human race, Crocus?'* 

Crocus: "Not at all. If mankind has no 
higher aim than acting a part the flowers are 
greater than men, for they do not give the mere 
movements of their bodies to the world but their 
lives. If I were to put man's mission into a 
couplet I would say, 

*A11 the world's an arena, 
And all the men and women contestants for the prize.'" 

Man: "Well said, my hero flower. But 
I should expect this from you. But would you 
107] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

not allow us to play sometimes, have a little 
recreation between the contests?'* 

Crocus: "Most certainly, for I have 
found in my observations that men are but boys 
grown tall and *A11 work and no play makes 
Jack a dull boy' after forty as surely as before 
fifteen. And this is as it ought to be since rec- 
reation is but re-creation, rebuilding, and the 
fearful strain of your modern life demands the 
rebuilding process to be put to use most gen- 
erously at times." 

Man: "But are we not going to extremes 
in our exploitation of systems of physical exer- 
cise?" 

Crocus: "Doubtless, as in the matter of 
health foods, and operations for appendicitis. 
You mortals are strange creatures. You are 
not very lamblike in temper of mind, but you 
are in your readiness to flock and follow the 
crowd. When certain things become the fash- 
ion in food, clothing, or even in surgery there 
is no use to combat it; the multitude must be 
satisfied. So it is in the matter of scientific 
physical exercise. But the body does not need 

[108 



PLAY FOR ITS OWN SAKE 

just so many tensings and relaxations of the 
muscles daily as it needs the exercise that comes 
through play. A man may practice calisthen- 
ics in his sleeping apartment morning and night 
as conscientiously as he *says' his prayers, and 
it will do him about as much good. One needs 
to enjoy his physical exercise as well as his 
devotions. And what can be more enjoyable 
than to get out of doors in the fresh light and 
glory of God's great world and have an en- 
thusiastic game of base-ball, tennis, or even 
passive croquet? It is the pleasure that counts 
in physical exercise, and that is the secret of 
all beneficial sports. When in a fiercely con- 
tested game you can enjoy a hearty laugh at 
defeat or victory, you have won against death." 

Man: *'You have touched a responsive 
chord, Crocus. To leap from my desk, snatch 
the racquet, and rush off to the court to throw 
my whole soul into a splendid game of tennis, 
— that is glory. Golf, too, is interesting. It 
especially has attractions for men along in 
years like John D. Rockefeller, and those of 
much avoirdupois, like Mr. Taft. Mr. Roose- 

109] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

velt, too, is a tennis enthusiast. To him golf 
is a sort of elderly lady's game! But I enjoy 
all true sports." 

Crocus: "One of the chief reasons why 
the beneficial results of outdoor sports are so 
certain is the fact that these games are not de- 
signed to be played by solitary individuals. 
The partnership idea is what makes the hardest 
trial of life endurable and the happy expe- 
riences transcendently glad. It is your being 
thrown together to laugh at and with, to enjoy 
each other, that is ideal. That is why God 
*setteth the solitary in families,' and no man 
dares to say that this is a mistake." 

Man : "I have thought how good it would 
be if everybody would take some time every 
week just to play. If there was a uniform plan 
of Saturday half-holiday, what a blessing it 
would be. But I suppose certain of us would 
begrudge the time and find some odd job to 
do. We are so afraid that we shall not wear 
out. But I do not believe that there will be 
many Americans rust out, do you, Crocus?" 

[110 



PLAY FOR ITS OWN SAKE 

Crocus: **There is a greater wrong than 
that you just hinted at, and that is the slavery 
of too many wives. They drudge and toil 
from early morning until near midnight. They 
have no opportunity to read or sing, or do just 
what their impulse directs for the moment. 
They are slaves to husband and children, be- 
come old before their time, and develop into 
soured and scolding wives. And it is all be- 
cause they have no recreation. There is a 
woman over across the street from my plot who 
never thinks of looking at a flower, she is so 
busy tending babies and cooking dinners." 

Man: **Yes, Crocus, that is the sad part 
of life. But while we men are selfish and 
ought to protect our wives from such a fate, I 
wish you could arouse womankind to take her 
recreation whether the house gets swept or not. 
The proprietor of a great store or the manager, 
when he wishes to go to the base-ball game, 
does not wait to see if his desk is clear of work. 
He picks up and goes. I wish women would 
do this sometimes. I believe an untidy house 

m] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

now and then would be allowable if it would 
save the breaking of the housewife's nervous 
system." 

Crocus: "There is need that all shall real- 
ize the necessity for times of refreshing and 
recreation. Life was made to be enjoyable; it 
is enjoyable. It only remains for you to use 
your native ingenuity in discovering how it may 
be so to you. But your native ingenuity is 
helpless in the swirl of the twentieth-century 
maelstrom if you look down upon the surging 
circumstances which seem eager to engulf you. 
You would better look up to the stars, which 
shine with an abiding luster. The story of the 
Crocus is a tale of looking upward, and there 
is a world of recreation and rest in this look 
aloft. The silver cord ought never to be 
strained asunder, or the golden bowl be 
crushed, or the pitcher be shattered at the 
fountain, or the wheel be broken at the cistern, 
but each should minister in its place until worn 
down to the final end, not broken in the prime. 
If a man could develop symmetrically, every 
function being exercised equally, he would not 

[112 



PLAY FOR ITS OWN SAKE 

have to drag through the last ten or twenty-five 
years of his Hfe with a stubborn Hver, a feeble 
brain, or a rebellious heart. He would be a 
well-rounded man up to the end. And then, 
like the deacon's one-horse shay, he would 
cease at once to work and to live. This is an 
ideal condition that may seem beyond you, but 
if you men would use your boasted reason as 
sanely as we flowers do our instinct, and a 
rational recreation should be made a real part 
of life's schedule, you would more nearly ap- 
proximate to the ideal and then *at evening 
time there would be light.' When the western 
sun begins to edge toward the horizon and the 
shadows creep along the hills it will not then 
be your chief concern as to whether your bank 
account is larger than your neighbor's, but 
whether your spinal cord is still supple. You, 
son of man, if you are wise you will not copy 
the methods of the Mexican peon who lives in 
a careless, happy-go-lucky world, nor will you 
fall into the folly of the American mania and 
make life a mere round of money getting. You 
will, rather, take the medium path, which 
113] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

passes, indeed, over rough and rocky emi- 
nences, yet now and again skirts the meadow 
and winds among flower-beds and shade-trees 
filled with singing birds." 



[114 



A CHAT BY THE WAYSIDE 



The citron-tree or spicy grove for me would never yield 
A perfume half so grateful as the lilies of the field. 

Eliza Cook-' ** Journal.** 



XI 




A CHAT BY THE WAYSIDE 

CROCUS: "Why is it, son of 
man, that mankind so eagerly 
seeks for flowers among the 
ruins and for the rainbow in 
the storm-cloud?" 
Man : "I cannot tell, unless it is that joy is 
our birthright, and having sold it for a mess of 
pottage we are trying to find its counterpart." 

Crocus : "You have answered well. Joy 
is your birthright. But an inheritance to be of 
use must be taken account of; time must be 
spent upon it. It seems as though some one 
had sent fire into your bones, you are so rest- 
less and fly from one thing to another. Time 
is the main factor of life. As your feet press 
the earth, so your life must rest firmly down 
on time. But make the most of the ground 
under your feet. While you must not live for 
117] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

pleasure, you will not live at all unless you live 
with pleasure. Then make more account of 
time, and do not hurry so to find the door into 
eternity." 

Man : ** *Lord, we are rivers, hastening to 
thy sea.' " 

Crocus: "Yes, you are hastening, but 
God does not drive too fast for the scenery to 
be enjoyed. Though the river is hastening to 
the sea with an uncompromising hand upon it, 
sometimes it eddies in a shady cove and allows 
the sunshine to dance through the leaves upon 
its waves, or kisses the white stretch of sandy 
beach and the bare feet of the laughing boys 
and girls wading in its waters." 

Man: "And should we spend more time 
upon the way>" 

Crocus : "It is your privileged duty. There 
are all about you nicely done up packages hid- 
den away in nooks and corners with such mes- 
sages as these upon them : *For one who would 
enjoy'; *For the pleasure of him who knows 
how to be pleased' ; *To be used by one with a 
faculty for gladness.' Do you seek them out? 

[118 



A CHAT BY THE WAYSIDE 

You will pass this way but once, so enjoy 
every tree by the roadside, every door you 
enter, every person you meet along the way. 
Stop and chat with Life as she passes you in 
song of bird, the laugh of the baby, the flowing 
of the river, or the smile of your wife. Stop 
and chat with Life, and be not in such haste to 
see her pass; her footsteps will fall on God's 
footstool for you but this time. And if you 
seem preoccupied, she is a sensitive maiden and 
will not obtrude upon you. She will not tarry 
long. She will not be spurned by dissolute 
people who are in a hurry to reach the limits 
of her domain." 

Man : "Oh, my sin, my sin ! The Crocus 
IS shriving my soul!" 

Crocus: "Son of man, there will be barns 
bursting with plenty long after you are gone, 
but that does not interest you now. Your chief 
concern is to accept from each passing agent 
the present which Life has sent you. And she 
herself will sometimes visit you in person. Then 
do not fail to entertain strangers, for in so do- 
ing some have entertained angels unawares. 

119] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Stop and chat with Life even though she may 
be garbed in servant's clothing, for she is a 
wonderful housekeeper and her dinners are 
exquisite. Eat them slowly that you may relish 
them. If you do not, there is no forgiveness 
with her, and long years after she will, like a 
Nemesis, call the incident to your mind with 
fierce heartburnings. Here she comes with 
brush and pencil, for she is a painter as well, 
and one of wide renown. Look, O man with 
a soul, upon the glories of that sunset, that 
landscape yonder, that mountain with its snow- 
capped summit towering as to the stars, that 
silver brook winding among the silver-leaved 
shrubs and out into the sparkling meadow!'* 
Man: "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!" 
Crocus: "And how prodigal she is with 
her gifts. Did you ever examine the dimples in 
your baby's cheeks, and the depths in his eyes 
as fathomless as Hayden Lake? Have you 
ever realized the beauty of that girl of yours, 
with her rosy cheeks and laughing eyes; and 
the boy so like you, and yet another individual 
as distinct as though begotten from another 

[120 



A CHAT BY THE WAYSIDE 

race? And that wife whose girHsh grace and 
beauty won you, and whose womanly power 
has held you and kept your soul from the pollu- 
tion that, like the ^pestilence, walketh in dark- 
ness,' — have you taken time to enjoy her as of 
yore? You would better appreciate this price- 
less gift, for Life is jealous and will not brook 
a divided affection. Your business is not to 
make excursions into other fields, but to enjoy 
the land which you possess and while you have 
possession of it. And when Life has brought 
to you the laughing-eyed *kinder' to blend two 
hearts most surely into one, is it not worth 
while to take time to examine the living cables 
that enslave you? But, soul of man, have you 
not been, oftentimes, so busy about doing things, 
hurrying hither and yon on errands that after- 
wards seemed all but unnecessary, that you 
almost forgot that there were any babies in the 
house? But let me warn you that Life loves 
the little ones, and she is jealous, as I have said; 
so if you would hold them for this world you 
must pay them some attention. Even the flow- 
ers will die unless the gardener does his duty. 
121] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Are not your babies of more value than many 
flowers?" 

Man: "True, most true. Columbus dis- 
covered America, but I, through the Crocus 
pilot, am discovering the world." 

Crocus: "There are few that do, though 
they live long lives upon its patient bosom. 
And yet they do not really live as much as I. 
It is foreordained that flowers must vegetate, 
but men are expected to live an abundant life, 
and that is a divine thing. But no life can be 
but a counterfeit of the really divine existence, 
your inheritance, that does not take joy into 
account. It would be as rational to think that 
hunger has no means of satisfaction as to believe 
that the faculty of joy can find nothing to de- 
light in or time in which to satisfy its longing. 
Moreover, in feeding this faculty you shall be- 
come rich and strong just as surely as meat and 
drink give strength to the arm and power to the 
brain." 

Man : " *And he that believeth shall not 
make haste.' " 

[122 



COMING BACK TO EDEN 



Immortal amaranth, a flower which once 

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life, 

Began to bloom, but soon for Man's offense 

To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows. 

And flowers aloft shading the fount of life. 

Milton : " Paradise Lost. " 



XII 




COMING BACK TO EDEN 

[AN: **Crocus, do the flowers 
ever weep?" 

Crocus: *' No; the mission 
of the flowers is to scatter joy 
broadcast. Smiles and song 
are their natural manifestations. And yet there 
was a time when my people wept. It was in 
Gethsemane when Jesus sweat great drops of 
blood, and on Calvary when the cross wept and 
dripped with crimson stains upon their petals, 
and the soul of the flower was crushed by the 
agony of its Maker. That was an awful sea- 
son, whose import mankind does not yet fully 
realize. But those bloody days that wrung the 
heart of God made possible eternal sunshine. 
For you must know that none can fathom the 
depths of joy who has not sounded the deeps 
of sorrow. But since that first Easter morning, 
125] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

with none other but angels near, when the eyes 
of the Crocus beheld the Saviour of the world 
come forth from the conquered tomb, the flow- 
ers have known no language but gladness. But 
why do you ask?" 

Man : "Because I have just returned from 
a meeting, and such a weeping time was there." 

Crocus: **Was it in sorrow for sins un- 
forgiven? It is proper to weep for these?" 

Man: **No; it was just a weeping time 
without any special reason for it. Some people 
gave testimonies and cried over them. It seems 
to me that I shall never get over wanting to sing 
for very joy that my sins have been forgiven." 

Crocus: "And that is natural and right. 
It seems strange that religion should ever have 
been clouded with melancholy, but the fact re- 
mains. Many a child has been driven from a 
life of sweet and fruitful devotion because of 
some gloomy-faced teacher who had cirrhosis 
of the liver and thought it was religion ! What 
that youth needed was a friend with a healthy 
digestion who, in a healthy voice could say: 
*Look up, boy. Do not let that poor man's 

[126 



COMING BACK TO EDEN 

jaundiced ideas poison your fresh young life. 
Come with me and I will show you where there 
is a robin nesting, and you shall see her babies if 
you will promise not to hurt them.* And when 
that man got his boy friend out into the woods 
he showed him not only the robin's nest but a 
glimpse into the face of God. That man not 
only had a religion that no physical infirmity 
could get in the way of, but he knew boys. But 
joy in religion must obtain notwithstanding all 
its misrepresentatives." 

Man: "But is the joy of religion a dif- 
ferent manifestation from the joy, say, of look- 
ing into the face of one you love?'* 

Crocus: "Not at all. There are not a 
dozen kinds of joy any more than there are 
many varieties of faith. Faith is faith and joy 
is joy wherever you find them. The object of 
faith and the source of joy may be different, 
but that is no matter. Joy in religion is but the 
same faculty which holds sway elsewhere, ex- 
ercising itself in the spiritual realm. The per- 
son is one. He may manifest himself in many 
different ways, but he in his normal life is one. 

127] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Sin creates the divided soul, the war in the 
heart; pits itself against self until, if rescue is 
not made, the fall of that life is sure. Jesus 
spoke of how one going into a strong man's 
house would first bind the strong man and then 
he will spoil his house. But meanwhile the 
captive will cry out and be in agony. There 
will be no peace or prosperity there. Only as 
the 'strong Son of God' comes and drives out 
the ravisher of that home is there hope or glad- 
ness. Unity of life brings joy. Paul cried out 
in despair that the traitor had divided his soul, 
but when he saw the face of Christ he shouted 
that freedom had come from his Lord. He re- 
joiced in a whole life now. Before it had been 
fragmentary." 

Man : "Then the natural, the spontaneous 
thing is, if a man has been freed from the horrid 
bondage of sin, to be happy. That, I take it, 
is self-evident. But is that all there is to re- 
ligion? Have we not something more than an 
empty soul to rejoice over?" 

Crocus: "By all means. When a man is 
freed from sin he is then on the threshold of 

[128 



COMING BACK TO EDEN 

true religion. Religion is the state of being 
bound to God, not by the force of a master but 
by the eager offering by a servant of himself. 
As gravitation touches every molecule of matter 
in God's seemingly limitless universe, so must 
His influence bind the whole of your nature to 
Him. The whole of your nature, notice, and 
not a fraction of it. The danger of life every- 
where is the tendency to deal in fractions, to 
cultivate parts, to forget to keep the balance by 
developing the nature symmetrically. You have 
a bow and arrow and you make tense the string 
and hold it there with the arrow in place, but 
you never shoot the arrow. After a while the 
bow will lose its power because of the unremit- 
ting tension, since it has not shot its shaft. A 
man eats but never works to use up the power 
the food has given to the muscles, and these 
become flaccid and powerless. A man may 
pray without ceasing, but if he does no spiritual 
work he gets no benefit from his devotions. In 
fact, if you pray much and work not at all you 
will be in the condition of the man who eats and 
never exercises, or the bow that is tense to shoot 
129] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the arrow which is never discharged. Here is 
a place for earnest thought. But here also is 
the answer to your question of why so many 
Christians weep instead of rejoicing. They 
have spiritual dyspepsia from over-feeding and 
under-work." 

Man: "Ah, I see; I see clearly. But I 
must not interrupt you in your story. Go on." 

Crocus: "By the wonderful chemistry of 
life the organs of digestion are able to take the 
most exceptional things of little food value, as 
pickles and rich sauces, and change them into 
brain, blood, muscles, and bones and keep a 
perfectly healthy body if the joyful life is lived. 
But the whole of existence is a wide table of 
difFerent foodstuffs for the soul. And though 
there are a myriad varieties yet there is a sort of 
spiritual chemistry in the Christ-born soul which 
is able to compare, sort, select, and finally trans- 
form into blessings those things which otherwise 
would be deadly poisons. There are circum- 
stances, prophesying nothing but misfortune, 
which, if they are met with calm trust, but usher 
in a better day. Joseph the slave is but the pre- 

[130 



COMING BACK TO EDEN 

lude to Joseph the exahed ruler. Bedford Jail 
is only the foreword of Bunyan's *Pilgrim's 
Progress.* But this spiritual function must not 
be worried. To trust the soul in the midst of 
God*s wide world is the highest wisdom, even 
though the forest shuts in dark and forbidding 
about you. No matter if the night draws on 
and there is no habitation near, to allow terror 
to bring confusion only makes the situation more 
fraught with danger. In such a case you will 
stop and calmly ask the way of Him whom no 
darkness can hide, when immediately you will 
hear a word beside you saying, *This is the way, 
walk ye in it.' When the soul is in such a state 
of peaceful trust you have a most perfect ex- 
ample of the true religion. And it ought not 
to be a very difficult task to enjoy that." 

Man: "Speaking of enjoying one's relig- 
ion calls to my mind some conversations I over- 
heard between several of our mutual friends, 
which I must relate to you. John Paul, who 
may be a little eccentric but who is pure gold 
nevertheless, accosted his friend Peter Mark, 
the other day, with Triend Mark, are you en- 

131] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

joying your religion?' The other responded 
without hesitation, *Well, no, I'm not, and for a 
very good reason. I have but Httle to enjoy.' 
*No,' answered Paul, *that is not the difficulty. 
You have religion enough, such as it is, for I 
must confess it is rather a poor brand, but you 
do not use it fairly. You go at it the same way 
you do your meals. You bolt Dr. Shepherd's 
fine sermons en bloc and never give them a 
moment's consideration afterwards. You take 
too much thought for your financial stature but 
literally none at all as to how your soul may be 
made fat. You keep your purse with all dili- 
gence, but your heart, out of which are the 
issues of life, receives very little attention. Peter 
Mark, you are a spiritual dyspeptic. Take a 
little more time for your religion and you will 
enjoy both it and your friends better. And I 
might add that God and your neighbors will, 
incidentally, take a much greater pleasure in 
you.' " 

Crocus: "That is stating the case as 
squarely as your flower friend has been present- 
ing it to you." 

[132 



COMING BACK TO EDEN 

Man: * 'Without stopping to see how his 
friend took what he had said, John Paul turned 
and walked down the block and button-holed 
Matthew Jones just as he was crossing the street 
to enter the courthouse. With the same lack 
of ceremony which he had used a moment be- 
fore he began, 'Lawyer Jones, are you enjoying 
your religion?' Mr. Jones was somewhat taken 
aback by this abrupt address, although he was 
fairly well acquainted with his friend's pecu- 
liarities, and coming to a full stop with one foot 
on the curbing, said, *Why, when I am engaged 
in religious activities, as the church services, I 
enjoy them, of course. Certainly, Mr. Paul, I 
enjoy my religion.' *No, you do not,' con- 
tradicted Mr. Paul. *You do not enjoy your 
religion, because you keep it in cold storage. 
Canned goods may be passable when nothing 
else is to be had, but the seasonable product is 
preferable. But religion needs not to be pre- 
served for time of famine. Like the mercies of 
the Lord, it is new every morning and fresh 
every evening. You will remember that the 
Israelites who gathered more than sufficient 

133] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

manna for the day, intending to store the over- 
plus for future use, found their larders filled 
with unpleasant odors on the next day, and they 
had nothing to eat at noon if they did not gather 
it each morning. And yet you store your 
spiritual food on Sunday, what little is left at 
the close of the day, and, as you use none 
during the week, think it will keep until the 
next Sabbath. Mr. Jones, you are a heretic 
of the first water, and your heresy is in think- 
ing that religion has to do with a certain section 
of your nature, a part of your time, a portion of 
your service. You have been deceived by cer- 
tain philosophers who have divided life into 
halves, calling one secular and the other sacred. 
You protest that you cannot mix religion and 
business. Mr. Jones, I do not believe it. My 
friend Goodlad, over at the comer, mixes reli- 
gion in his business and I never find sand in his 
sugar or cabbage leaves in his tea. More than 
that, I find that he always has time, no matter 
how rushing the trade, to be a friend in need to 
the man who is down.' " 

[134 



COMING BACK TO EDEN 

Crocus: **I trust that the curbstone ser- 
mons of John Paul will bear abundant fruit. 
But there is need that somebody shall speak 
frankly. There is little chance for pleasure to 
be taken in negative righteousness, or obedience 
to the bare moral law. And this is all there is 
to much of the so-called religion of this day. 
You would hardly enjoy your garden if you 
did nothing but watch for weeds. I have heard 
of two definitions of a garden. One person 
defined it as a place fenced in ; the other spoke 
of it as a plot of ground filled with beautiful 
flowers and trees, traversed by delightful walks, 
and dotted here and there with comfortable 
seats where the w6ary might rest and drink in 
the beauty. There are many who think of reli- 
gion as something that shuts them in from the 
world, fences them off from the roaring lions 
that inhabit the wicked wilderness. But there 
are those who forget all about any inclosing 
walls or fences and go about eating the fruit, 
enjoying the fragrance of the flowers, and being 
delightfully happy in the companionship of 

135] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

each other and God's beautiful gifts. With such 
God dwells in person, and any place is glorious 
then." 

Man : " *In His presence there is fulness 

f» »» 
joy- 

Crocus: "But my choicest friend is the 
old philosopher who never wearied of talking 
about his beautiful garden. One day the other 
wise men of his set said to him, *Come now and 
show us this wonderful garden of yours, for it 
must be unequaled in loveliness if all you say 
of it is true.' Expressing great delight, the old 
man directed them to follow him as he led the 
way into a narrow inclosure, in the rear of a 
low-roofed dwelling, where were blooming a 
few rose bushes, some violets and pansies, and 
one or two shade-trees. The visitors looked 
about in wonder and in a chorus exclaimed, 
*Why, this is not a very remarkable garden; it 
is too small and narrow.' *Yes,' said the old 
philosopher, as a glory illumined his face, *but 
it's wondrous high.' " 



[136 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 



Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head from the 
meadow, 

See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the 
magnet; 

It is the compass- flower, that the finger of God has 
suspended 

Here on its fragile stalk to direct the traveler's jour- 
ney 

Over the sea- like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert. 

Such in the soul of man is faith. 

Longfellow: *' Evangeline^ 



XIII 




time 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 

/CROCUS: **Among the many 
kinds of savage creatures that 
prey upon mankind, creeping 
up on their victims unawares 
and throttling them before 
to gather themselves up for 
resistance, there are three especially against 
which I wish to put you on your guard. Some 
governments place a bounty on the heads of 
less savage beasts. A concerted plan to ex- 
terminate these fierce pests ought to be made." 
Man: "You speak, I doubt not, of the 
ravages of packs of wolves, driven by hunger 
from the wilds of Siberia and the jungles of 
Asia, to prey upon the simple, rural population 
living on the outskirts of civilization.'* 

Crocus: **No; I refer to the cunning and 
139] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

cruel enemies that creep in upon your conscious- 
ness from the wilderness of your own nature. 
I have spoken of the divided soul, of the civil 
war within the heart. I now speak of a sort of 
guerilla warfare which is being carried on con- 
stantly in the innermost lives of the men of this 
generation, where individual enemies, like 
mountain bandits, slip up and loot the treasure- 
house and then escape safely back to their 
strongholds." 

Man: "You arouse my curiosity. Name 
one of these brutal enemies.'* 

Crocus: "One of the first of the clan is 
Fear. Fear kills. Men face the battle of life 
with a gnawing Fear in their hearts which eats 
away their vitals faster than sword-thrusts of 
warriors could drink up their blood. *As a 
man thinketh in his heart, so is he.* And if his 
thoughts are clouded with a Fear that he will 
be vanquished at every turn in the road, it 
would be a wonder if this did not come true. 
God had conquered the Midianites for Gideon 
before ever the pitchers were turned by the 
potter, much less broken by the three hundred 

[140 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 

heroes, by putting a deadly Fear for the ad- 
vancing Israelitish host in their hearts.** 

Man : "Now that you speak thus I remem- 
ber what Job said: *The thing which I greatly 
feared is come upon me.* But how can Fear 
bring disaster to us?** 

Crocus : "Fear creates an expectation and 
there is a subtle law connecting the one looking 
with the thing for which he looks. No man 
has yet discovered how this law works ; he only 
knows it is there. Then Fear weakens the soul 
so that any other enemy may drag it down. 
There ought always to be a sleepless guard in 
the watchtower to detect and drive away this 
woeful creature.** 

Man: "But yet another enemy; declare 
his name and nature.** 

Crocus: "His name is Worry. This is 
a wolf -like demon which slips in behind the 
fortifications, stealing by the sentries under 
cover of the darkness, lurking in some dark 
corner for days, only to leap out unexpectedly 
from his hiding-place in a vicious attempt to set 
his teeth in your throat. You club him off, and 

141] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

he shows his teeth in your very face. Finally, as 
the sun bursts out in its splendor from behind the 
clouds, he slinks away, snarling, to a den he has 
made under your doorstep — for, like Giant 
Despair, Worry cannot thrive in sunshiny 
weather. If he has wounded you, take care, 
for the poison of his fangs produces a shriveling 
effect drawing one over so that the lungs do not 
have free play to fill with good fresh air. But 
Worry is not able to make a successful attack 
upon you when the head is thrown back and 
the lungs filled with God's glorious, sun-preg- 
nant air, since the gleam in your eye cowers 
him." 

Man : "This is truly a vicious brute. But 
is there yet another?" 

Crocus : "There are many others, but the 
last of the three I promised to mention is 
Doubt." 

Man: 

"'Our doubts are traitors, 
And makes us lose the good we oft might win. 
By fearing to attempt.* " 

[142 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 

Crocus: **Yes, Doubt is a traitor. He 
sometimes masquerades as an angel — a part he 
plays well, since he was created good but fell 
from his high estate. He now is nothing more 
than one of the heathen gods.'* 

Man: 

** 'But the gods are dead — 
Ay, Zeus is dead, and all the gods but Doubt, 
And Doubt is brother devil to Despair!* " 

Crocus: "Jesus condemns Doubt always 
as He renounced despair. He said to Peter, 
as he lifted him up from sinking when he 
attempted to walk to Him on the water, 
* Wherefore didst thou doubt?* implying that 
his doubts, like leaden weights, dragged him 
down. *If ye have faith, and doubt not, the 
mountains shall be removed at your word.* 
*Seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall 
drink, neither be ye of a doubtful mind.* Doubt 
has no place in Christ's gospel. His disciples 
follow His lead. Peter was commanded to go 
with the three men who sought him while he 
was musing on the housetop, *nothing doubt- 
ing,' and he repeats this last phrase in his report 

143] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

of the incident as though it were the key to the 
situation. Paul, in his instructions to Timothy, 
says, *I will, therefore, that men pray every- 
where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath 
and doubting/ He puts it still stronger when 
he arbitrates in the controversy about eating 
meats, and says, *Happy is he that condemneth 
not himself in that which he alloweth. And he 
that doubteth is damned.' '* 

Man: "But a man thinks not who doubts 
not. Doubts, like birds, or devils, or heathen 
gods, as you say, fly in the moment the doors 
or windows are opened to allow a look without. 
What shall I say? Am I wicked because they 
are under my roof?" 

Crocus : "Not unless you make them wel- 
come there. But if you feed and nourish your 
visitors, then are you guilty of heathen worship. 
Doubt is but an opportunity for faith. Have I 
not said that when the thrust of nature, or cir- 
cumstance, man or devil, is downward, you are 
to resist it? Doubt is embraced when you gaze 
downward, and it is then that you grow dizzy. 

[144 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 

But the motto of the Crocus is, *Look up.' This 
attitude of the soul is death to Doubt/* 
Man : "I see, I see. 

'Faith means perpetual unbelief 
Kept quiet like the snake *neath Michael's foot 
Who stands calm just because he feels it writhe.* ** 

Crocus: "The main thing is the leader- 
ship. If the snake be underfoot and the angel 
leads the way, there is little danger. The fate- 
ful question is, *Which shall captain your 
journey of life. Faith or Doubt?' Mr. Gigadibs, 
in bitter pique because he could not fit up his 
'average cabin of a life' to his exact liking, gives 
Doubt the keys, who strips his small sea-dwell- 
ing bare. The bishop, on the other hand, 
knowing that he will have to use hard self-con- 
trol in 'crossing the ocean of this world,' deny- 
ing himself many delightful comforts, has the 
wisdom to turn over the task of furnishing his 
cabin to Faith's deft fingers, with the result that 
his surroundings are both shipshape and sightly. 
It is best to start right, for fear no ship will 

145] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

overhaul you from which you will be able to 
get additional furnishings.'* 

Man: "Go on. I like your meaning. 
Lead me on yet farther.'* 

Crocus: "Much, therefore, depends on 
the beginnings in this world. If a youth pay 
court to a maiden his advances are linked with 
faith in her and not doubt about her. Doubt 
destroys the beginnings, so there is nothing to 
build upon. Faith gives a foundation and in- 
sures a future. When one is thrust out to meet 
the real problems that confront the average 
mortal he will doubtless need to give up some of 
his ideals, but he must not surrender his com- 
plete capital stock and start with bankruptcy, 
and Doubt asks that. He needs to clear away 
the underbrush in the back pasture, but it is 
not necessary to start a forest fire to make it 
more complete. He may have to burn the 
bridges behind him, but that does not imply 
mining the highway that stretches on before. 
He certainly needs windows in his dwelling, 
but to cut port-holes in the roof, at least in our 
climate, would not be considered wise. If you 

[146 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 

will start out with faith in the future, in God, 
and in yourself, you will surely discover hard- 
ships, but success will come along too. But to 
set on with Doubt filling your sky will bring 
defeat before the task is well begun." 

Man: *'But you speak more about this 
last evil creature than the first two enemies. 
Why is this? Are they not all equally 
deadly?*' 

Crocus: "Yes; but you wrestle not 
against flesh and blood, but against wicked 
spirits in the heavenly places, and Doubt is such 
a one as gives incarnate form to the other two. 
But Fear is the most deadly if we may judge 
from the outward manifestation. Jesus made 
much of Faith as a defensive agent: You will 
remember that while Jairus was praying Him 
to come and heal his daughter the servant broke 
in upon them and announced that help would 
be too late, since the child was already dead. 
But Jesus turned quickly to the heartbroken 
man, as the sad message fell on his ear, and 
simply said, *Be not afraid, only believe.' *Be 
not afraid, only believe!' How beautiful is 

147] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the voice that speaks to you thus, for the words 
have passed over Jairus' shoulder and reach 
out for you. Very often the Master used to 
speak this way to His disciples. *It is I, be not 
afraid.' Tear not, little flock, for it is your 
Father's good pleasure to give you the king- 
dom.' Tear not them which kill the body.' " 

Man : " Tear not,' O blessed command ! 
What strength is unlocked here. It is like food 
to the famished, as water to the dying of thirst, 
as the touch of the mother's hand to the child 
lost in the forest. Tear not, only believe.' 
Lord, I will not fear while thou art nigh." 

Crocus: "Yes, His words are Tear not, 
only believe.' He does not say anything about 
the need of doubt, or how truth may be found 
by doubting its existence. He does not speak 
to His disciples, saying, *Doubt on, beloved, 
and when doubt hath conceived, it bringeth 
forth faith.' Oh, no, not that! He says, 
rather. Tear not, only believe,* Through the 
gateway of Faith must your soul enter to reach 
gianthood. See Pilgrim as he looks out from 
the Interpreter's House upon the warrior who 

[148 



THE ENEMIES OF UNAWARES 

attacks the guards at the castle gate while the 
doubters stand about with cowardly fear 
stamped upon their faces. Does he admire 
these exiles of Doubt? Or are his eyes turned 
with delight upon the hero who knows nothing 
but the joy of faith as he cuts his way through 
all opposition only to be welcomed by the vic- 
tors on the ramparts, singing, 

*Come in, come in, 
Eternal glory thou shalt win*? ** 

Man : ** *Doubt is a traitor,' says Shake- 
speare; yes, a traitor, and I despise him. But 
Faith is a hero and I love him." 

Crocus : ** You sometimes hear it said that 
there is no chance for the hero in your modern 
life. It is not true. In every age, among men 
of every race and trade, this god of fortune 
walks. There is hardly a day passes but 
heroic Opportunity gently taps some bright- 
faced youth upon the shoulder and says : *This 
is your hour, the hour when the immortal doors 
swing wide for you to enter. If the blood of 
a man courses through your veins, pass through. 

149] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

No weakling enters here.' And then he clasps 
his sword, unsheathes the blade, and boldly 
crosses the threshold." 

Man: 

"'Some men live near to God, as my right arm 
Is near to me; and then they walk about 
Mailed in full proof of faith, and bear a charm 
That mocks at fear, and bars the door on doubt. 
And dares the impossible.' 

May I dare to join their company." 



[150 



THE CROCUS'S DREAM 



And the hyacinth, purple, and white, and blue, 
Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew 
Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, 
It was felt like an odor within the sense. 

Shelley: '* The Sensitive Plant. ' 



XIV 




THE CROCUS'S DREAM 

AN: "Crocus, you are not 
privileged to travel and so I 
want to tell you of a wonder- 
ful country I visited some time 
ago. It is Old Mexico. 
Down there is to be found a really primitive 
civilization, the customs of ages long past jost- 
ling the most modern inventions of this wonder- 
ful century. Every hour in the day for seven 
days in the week you may see the peon with his 
wife and children bearing heavy burdens on 
back and head and walking long miles with their 
killing loads, although finely equiped freight, 
express, and passenger trains glide past them on 
the one side and elegant touring cars whiz by 
on the other. How easy it would be for these 
modern annihilators of distance and labor to do 
their drudgery for them. I call these people 
153] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

primitive because they have not learned to use 
their heads to save their heels." 

Crocus: "But you and your people are 
primitive too, for why do you not use your 
heads to save your hearts? Why do you not 
put more intellect and will into your religion, 
and so bring out more blessings for yourselves?** 

Man: **I do not understand you. Crocus. 
You remember that you have had to speak very 
plainly to me, for I am but a child in knowl- 
edge.** 

Crocus: "Well, I have had a dream. 
Think of a flower dreaming! But it is such a 
good dream that I must tell you about it, since 
all the actors in it were mortals.** 

Man: "A flower dream! Wonderful! 
But tell it to me.** 

Crocus: "I dreamed that the God of 
heaven came down to earth and, pitying His 
human children because of their toilsome life. 
He built them a great world railroad on which 
they might always ride and ship all their mer- 
chandise. I thought, *How good my Maker is.* 
But while this was wonderful to me, the more 

[154 



THE CROCUS'S DREAM 

wonderful part of it is yet to come. After the 
railroad was all built and trains running every- 
where, stopping at all stations where there were 
dwellings, I saw that these mortals still con- 
tinued to walk and carry their heavy burdens. 
A train would pull into the depot and wait for 
the passengers to get on board ; there would be 
crowds about to see the strange, new creation, 
but the train would at last start up empty and 
the crowd would scatter, each carrying his 
crushing burden. There were among the num- 
ber many women and not a few children, all 
on foot and burdened with all sorts of goods, 
cumbersome and heavy. And I cried out in a 
voice so loud, as it seemed to me, it ought to 
have arrested the attention of these weary mor- 
tals, though none turned toward me: *0 prim- 
itive mortals, why do you go trudging wearily 
along life's dusty highway, regardless of the 
grand central, trans-world railway system, built, 
owned, and operated by Jehovah of Hosts for 
the convenience of all His people, tickets at any 
office? Are you not primitive to walk when 
you might ride, to carry heavy burdens upon 
155] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

breaking backs when God's trains are speeding 
past you all the time, and you have free passes 
for yourselves as well as for your baggage?' " 

Man : "Wonderful dream ! But can you 
describe the train more in detail?" 

Crocus: *'I will if you will not interrupt 
me. Here is a splendidly equipped freight 
train, with patent process of preserving perish- 
able goods in every car: 'Casting all your care 
upon Him; for He careth for you.' And here 
is the specially chartered express train to carry 
all your extra luggage : *Now unto Him that is 
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that 
you may ask or think.' There are two sections 
to this train because of the large amount of ex- 
cess baggage, and the running orders of the 
second section are: *The government shall be 
upon His shoulders.' There is a fast-mail train 
running over the whole line which also carries 
the parcel post, letters and packages received 
at all stops : *And Hezekiah received the letter 
from the hand of the messengers, and read it: 
and Hezekiah went into the house of the Lord 
and spread it before the Lord.' This road's 

[156 



THE CROCUS'S DREAM 

construction train is remarkable both for its 
equipment and also for its splendid crew: *Be- 
ing careful in every good work, strengthened 
with all might, according to His glorious power, 
unto all patience and long suffering with joy- 
fulness.* " 

Man: "But what about the passenger 
train?** 

Crocus : "I asked you not to interrupt me. 
Of all the interesting features of this remark- 
able railroad system, the passenger train is the 
most wonderful. First the engine : *The appear- 
ance of the wheels and their work was like unto 
the color of an emerald; and their appearance 
and their work was as it were a wheel in the 
middle of a wheel: and they turned not when 
they went. Whithersoever the spirit was to go 
they went: for the spirit of the living creature 
was in the wheels.' The day coaches are spot- 
lessly clean and the large easy-chairs are 
arranged for either tete-a-tete or large friendly 
groups: *He who is rich in mercy, hath raised 
us up together, and made us sit together in 
heavenly places.' Then there is the observation 

157] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

car : *They looked on Him and were lightened : 
and their faces were not ashamed.' A coach 
is also provided for invalids and those recover- 
ing from overwork and worry : *They that wait 
upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they 
shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall 
run and not be weary ; they shall walk and not 
faint.' " 

Man : "How I should like to travel on this 
train!" 

Crocus : "One coach is especially devoted 
to the Jubilee Singers, who represent not one 
race only, but have been chosen from all quar- 
ters of the globe, and who have but one object, 
and that to produce the best possible music for 
the glory of the owner of the road and the de- 
light of the guests on the train: *And the ran- 
somed of the Lord shall return, and come to 
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their 
heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and 
sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' This is 
their commission: * Praise the Lord with the 
harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and cm 

[158 



THE CROCUS'S DREAM 

instrument of ten strings, with trumpets and 
sound of cornet. Sing unto Him a new song.* 
There is always a diner in connection with this 
well appointed train : *Whether ye eat, or drink, 
or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' 
Of the drinks on the menu card there is not one 
that steals away the reason or benumbs the 
senses, but they are of the delicious vintage 
from the highland vineyards of which Amos, 
the herdman of Tekoa, speaks : *The mountains 
shall drop with new wine.' Finally, the Pull- 
man is commodious and pleasant and, while 
not all the berths are lowers, they are comfort- 
able and sanitary: *Let the saints be joyful in 
glory ; let them sing aloud upon their beds,' for 
*I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: 
for thou. Lord, only makest me to dwell in 
safety.' *There remaineth therefore a rest for 
the people of God.' " 

Man (reverently) : "With what a sense 
of restful pleasure do I recall the time when I 
traveled over this road. It seemed as though 
angels hovered near as I dropped asleep with 

159] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the music of the Jubilee Singers ringing in my 
ears, and the last words that reached me before 
I drifted sweetly into refreshing slumber were : 



Joy and peace shaS, dMreU la Xtw diall dwell In tlieo* 



[160 



THE HEART OF THE WORLD 



"Look to the lilies, how they grow!** 
*Twas thus the Saviour said, that we 
Even in the simplest flowers that blow 
God*s ever watchful care might see. 

Moir: *' Lilies," 



XV 




THE HEART OF THE WORLD 

AN: "Crocus, if you should 
be taken up and transplanted 
to a waste, howling wilderness, 
would you be unhappy?" 
Crocus: "Not at all. To 
3e sure, I should miss your pleasant companion- 
ship and the friendly faces of the passers-by, 
but I should soon make friends with the trees 
and birds of my new home, and even the wild 
beasts would, after a while, come to know and 
speak kindly to me. Then the same sun whom 
I adore would smile on me there as here; the 
moon, too, would light my face at night, and 
the many stars I know would still talk with me." 
Man : "Then your happiness does not de- 
pend on the place so much as the presence of 
those you love?" 
163] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Crocus: "Precisely. And this is coming 
to be the case among men as the feHne instinct 
is lost in the process of their being 'changed 
into His image from glory to glory.' To the 
great souls personality is everything; locality 
nothing. The soul of Robert Burns was exult- 
ant in the wildest waste when he could sing to 
his beloved : 

*The desert were a paradise 
If thou wert there.* 

Saint Paul had so imbibed the spirit of his 
beloved Master, whose slave he delighted to 
call himself, that any place was paradise, since 
he reckoned his Lord as always with him. In 
the Roman dungeon he praised God for the 
opportunity to glorify his Master by spreading 
the story of salvation among the prisoners, and 
even the courtiers of the royal palace as he had 
occasion, sending out to his anxious friends the 
cheering message, *I am full, and abound and 
have need of nothing.' At the same hour the 
Emperor Nero, monarch of the world, was so 
tired with his own useless life that, after nearly 
a score of years of ruling to satisfy his every 

[164 



THE HEART OF THE WORLD 

whim and pleasure, he hired a slave to take his 
wretched life, which he was too cowardly to 
put an end to himself. No wonder Milton 
makes Satan say, in his great epic on the fall of 
man, *I myself am hell.' " 
Man: 

"'Not in the clamor of the crowded street, 
Nor in the shouts and plaudits of the throng; 
But in ourselves are victory and defeat.* 

*Not to be taken out of the world, but to be 
kept from the evil that is in the world,* which 
means that we are not to let evil fill our souls 
any more than the swimmer allows the sea to 
glut his lungs. But how shall we keep the world 
out of our lives, and yet remain in its very 
midst?" 

Crocus: "As I do. I look up to the sun 
and by means of that look I find strength to 
throw off all foreign substances from my person. 
Your religion, you say, finds its chief meaning 
in the fact that you are bound to God; mine, 
in being tied to yonder sun. It is my delight to 
glance along the sun's rays and see the mag- 
nificence of that great orb of the sky. So you 

165] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

should not be satisfied with feeling the pull of 
the cables of divine love. You should not only 
feel but see. Do you then sight along the line 
of these golden strands to see if, perchance, you 
may not behold the great white throne, the 
angel choir and the seraphim." 

Man: "But if I have caught your spirit, 
the Crocus lives not for himself, but all this 
glory that comes to him from the sun and sky 
is that he may give it out to the world again. 
Am I not right?*' 

Crocus: "Quite right. And all the in- 
filling that you have received from your Lord is 
simply that you, also, may flow out to human 
need with abundant gladness. In all creation, 
from God upon His throne unto the tiniest 
flower that grows, the blessing of life is to give 
that life away. This is the key that unlocks the 
universal treasure-house. It is the fountain that 
is always flowing that lives. The stagnant pool, 
misering its treasured water, rots and dies." 

Man: "As a striking illustration of your 
word for to-day I have lately heard of a woman 
who was so despondent that she told her pastor 

[166 



THE HEART OF THE WORLD 

her life was utterly miserable and she felt as 
though the world were a prison-house. He was 
a wise man and promised to cure her of her 
melancholy if she would take his medicine. 
This she agreed to do, though she was skeptical 
about his being able to fulfil his promise. Said 
he: *This is my prescription. Go, this after- 
noon, to Grandma Blank's and read a half- 
hour to her out of her favorite book. Do this 
three days in succession, and then report to me.' 
The woman demurred at first, but, having 
promised, she kept her word and went that very 
afternoon on her mission. When she returned 
home she was singing. She went the next day 
and that night, not being able to hold back the 
good news longer, she telephoned to her pastor 
and said: *I have seen my vision and been re- 
leased from my dungeon. Life is a new and 
wonderful thing to me now.' " 

Crocus: "That woman had been con- 
signed to solitary confinement in her own soul by 
her own will. All she needed was to will to go 
out and mingle with others and find freedom in 
service. In your religion you must have love 

167] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

for God, but you must have flesh and blood to 
bestow it upon. If you do not manifest your 
regard for your fellows you shall surely die, 
since to miser the soul's chief treasure is as cul- 
pable as to hoard gold, the free exchange of 
which makes civilized life possible. The fig- 
tree shall wither to the roots unless the luscious 
fruit is discovered among the leaves. To 
assuage human misery is one of the divinest op- 
portunities for the heart of man to thrill with 
the highest joy. But no man need expect to be 
glad if his neighbor is enduring a misfortune 
that he can lighten. If you think of salvation 
for your own soul as a mere fire-escape, or 
wreckage raft, you will grow more and more 
scrawny until you are dead as to God, having 
but a name to live. *The joy of the Lord is 
your strength,' but if that strength is not used 
to make others glad, you will have neither joy 
nor strength long. The heart of man and the 
heart of God are two great double-locked 
treasure-vaults, and loving service is the key 
that will drive back the bolted doors to each. 
If you shall find entrance here, you will have 
unlocked the heart of the world." 

[168 



THE WILL TO BE GLAD 



The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad 
for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
rose (the autumn crocus, the "rose of Sharon" of Solo- 
mon*s Song). — Isaiah. 



XVI 




THE WILL TO BE GLAD 

CROCUS: 'Tn this busy life 
of yours, busy with the every- 
day incidents and happenings, 
Hke a child seeking for play- 
things, you are so engrossed 
with the chips that you cut from the rough block 
you are working upon that you forget to look 
for the features of the divine likeness you have 
been assigned to chisel out of existence. Scrap- 
ing together the fragments for a living so oc- 
cupies your attention that you have lost sight of 
the main purpose, building a life from the crude 
material put in your hands. And so in the 
anxiety lest you should lose a poor, broken piece 
of waste material, you fail to feel the thrill and 
swelling of the soul at the sight of a hint of the 
new creation, the beginnings of a noble man- 
hood that is appearing under your hand. The 
171] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

joy task has been lost sight of in the mere effort 
to support animal life." 

Man: "But is the successful attainment of 
joy a task?" 

Crocus : "It is a law of life that all things 
worth having come only by means of effort, and 
joy is no exception to the rule. It may be easier 
to be downcast than to be glad, but if so the 
same reason for it applies here as in the physical 
world. Gravitation is indispensable to all the 
heavenly bodies to keep them from flying from 
their orbits and wrecking everything. Paul 
says that he was given a thorn in the flesh, 
*lest he should be exalted above measure.' 
Nature's downward thrust is demanded that in 
life's upward struggle it shall not only keep, but 
add to, its vital power and character. Thus joy 
is a thousand-fold more glad because it has con- 
quered the impulse toward despair. The will 
has business here. And if you shall fail to find 
happiness in God's wide fields it is because you 
have allowed things, mere happenings and ind- 
dents, the fragmentary commonplaces of time, 

[172 



THE WILL TO BE GLAD 

to clutter up and fill the throne-room which the 
will alone ought to occupy." 
Man: "OLord, 

*Our wills are ours, we know not how: 
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.* 

But if they are Thine is it Thy will that they 
should be employed in following the multitude 
to sin's sad end, or blazing the way through the 
everglades to the realm of gladness? Doubt- 
less Isaiah's word, *the desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose,' is an earnest of the 
answer." 

Crocus: "Except that it was the Crocus 
and not the rose that made that desert glorious. 
You have been wandering in the desert? Then 
use your will, as does the one you call the hero 
of the flowers, and the desert shall be a garden. 
What is your will for if it is not to be used to 
bring to you one of the most necessary things 
in all the world? Shall your will be employed 
in the choice of a stone to throw at the first 
robin that heralds the spring and not be used to 
pluck a sunbeam and set it in your soul? Is 

173] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

your will worth while to whip you to your busi- 
ness at seven in the morning, after a late social 
function the night before, and not of sufficient 
excellence to impel you to see the color, the 
humor, the beauty, and gladness of life, instead 
of just the dead, black drudgery of it? Ought 
not one to exercise his volition in the manipula- 
tion of business opportunities, the increase of his 
bank account, and not utilize it to strengthen 
life's vital flow? *Beloved, I wish above all 
things that thou mayest prosper land be in health, 
even as thy soul prospereth.' The soul is the 
measure of your success or failure, be it fat or 
lean — the soul, and not physical attainments or 
material possessions.'* 

Man: "Charles Reade, the novelist, tells 
of a man who became violently ill of jaundice 
because of a fit of temper. You would say that 
the will be used in forbidding certain emotions 
to enter the soul?" 

Crocus : "This is its prerogative. Anger 
poisons the fountains of the whole system as 
does jealousy, envy, hatred, and all the evil 
passions. Sad thoughts, too, are unhealthy, 

[174 



THE WILL TO BE GLAD 

but good and great thoughts are joy bringers. 
Some people cannot think great thoughts, and 
so they have to depend solely on humorous 
ones. Others, who are accustomed to deal 
in mental long tons, ought not to strain their 
minds by always lifting at these great con- 
ceptions, but occasionally they should come 
down to the light lumber of humor.** 

Man: **I wonder if the reason that the 
Irishman is such a universal benefactor is be- 
cause he is such an amazing humorist?*' 

Crocus : "Doubtless. Humor is like salt, 
— a saving element in the midst of the dis- 
organizing forces that are at work trying to 
wreck and ruin the whole structure of society. 
The dangerous man is he who sees only the 
wrong and injustice on the one side, or the 
complete solution and key to the whole complex 
problem on the other. The one cures every- 
thing in the existing order and would immedi- 
ately wipe it out by force and the torch of revo- 
lution. The other is so bent on the theory of 
the true answer and final issue as to overlook 
entirely the real facts in the case. Each for- 

175] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

gets to extract the individual element from the 
individual event in which there is always some- 
thing enjoyable and possibly even droll. It is 
the great-heart who can not only see both the 
injustice and the means of righting the wrong, 
but also the humor of the situation, and so 
lighten the tension of the whole predicament by 
an appeal to the risibilities." 

Man: "But these occasions demand the 
will to see, evidently. Oh, will, how great 
thou art! And thou hast been enslaved too 
long!" 

Crocus; "Politics are liable to become 
exceedingly savage, but Abraham Lincoln was 
able to allay the irritation in many a strained 
situation by a humorous anecdote that was more 
convincing than a volume of argument. The 
modern cartoon is Lincolnonian in this parti- 
cular. In religion, also, notwithstanding the 
commonly accepted notion to the contrary, there 
is a real opportunity for humor. Elijah was 
occasionally humorously sarcastic, and Paul 
in one of his epistles breaks out into a scathing 
irony that cuts like a knife. One of the most 

[176 



THE WILL TO BE GLAD 

pathetic things possible is a religion that des- 
troys the sense of humor in its subjects, for 
when this is gone the soul has lost its balancing 
power. Man is a reasoning creature, but he is 
also *an animal that laughs,' and when he has 
lost his sense of the ridiculous and his power to 
make merry, his reason is tottering. Childhood 
and health laugh, but there is no laughter in a 
mad-house.*' 

Man: "I can most heartily second this 
utterance of yours. Crocus, for it is self-evident 
that we would never have been given the power 
to laugh if we received it but to destroy it. My 
eyes were given me to see with, not to gouge 
out." 

Crocus: "But you must not depend on 
climate or circumstances to make you happy. 
These are but invitations to conquest. The 
house fly is a carrier of disease, the spider seeks 
poison, but the bee has but one object in life — 
the transportation of argosies of golden sweet- 
ness from the wild world of nature to the ceiled 
dining-rooms of civilized men. By grace of 
its redemptive power the soul has a like char- 

177] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

acteristic. It can gather strength from the most 
grievous wrong. It can overcome evil with 
good. It can extract sweetness from the bitterest 
plant that grows on the face of creation.*' 

Man : "O soul, soul, thou hast much land 
to be possessed! Go forth to conquer! Within 
thyself are regions vast that must be peopled 
with the joy civilization. Go, go!" 

Crocus : "Of what use is climate or local- 
ity to the Pauls, Bunyans, and Barnabases of 
a victorious race? The soul was made to be a 
monarch greater than the severest hardships, or 
the most luxurious ease. The soul is king. 
But in every kingdom there must be a chief 
executive officer, and here it is the will. And 
this officer needs to be a sort of Joseph-like 
despot that the throne may be stable. He 
needs to put into practical setting the dreams of 
his monarch for the preservation of his subjects. 
He must see that the corn is stored and, when 
the famine comes, that there be no waste in 
dealing it out. He must expel the brigands, 
punish the lawless, prod up the indolent, allay 
strife, reward the diligent, care for the poor, and 

[178 



THE WILL TO BE GLAD 

create harmony in the whole domain. The 
king has placed him in this position that the 
throne may enjoy peace at home and abroad. 
He is the king's thane, and his duty is to carry 
out the pleasure of his royal master. But in 
all his activities his chief business is to make his 
monarch glad, that he may sit with joy upon 
his throne." 



179] 



THE CHARIOT OF GLADNESS 



Mountam gorses, ever- golden, 

Cankered not the whole year long! 
Do ye teach us to be strong, 

Howsoever pricked and holden 

Like your thorny blooms and so 

Trodden on by rain and snow. 
Up the hillside of this life. 

As bleak as where ye grow? 

E. B» Browning: "Lessons from the Gorse. " 



XVII 




THE CHARIOT OF GLADNESS 

AN: "Crocus, I wish you 
would sing for me. Your 
voice is so sweet in conver- 
sation that I am sure it would 
ravish my soul in song." 
Crocus: *T will sing for you sometime 
in your dreams when your window is open 
toward my plot. Meanwhile, I must tell you 
my story before your ear gets so heavy with 
the noise of men that you cannot hear my 
voice. You speak of singing. This is a 
perfect vehicle of gladness. As laughter is 
the natural way of expressing appreciation of 
humorous thoughts, so song is the best expres- 
sion of joy. Not only so, but it acts as a guard 
against danger. Pouring out the soul in carols 
of praise will never fail to dispel the tempter. 
Evil cannot exist except where v^cked thoughts 
183] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

are dwelt upon, and such quickly take flight at 
the breath of Christian song.'* 

Man: "Indeed, this must be true. Who 
could commit any crime while singing 

'Guide me, O thou great Jehovah! 
Pilgrim through this barren land: 
I am weak, but thou art mighty; 
Hold me with thy powerful hand. 
Strong Deliverer, 
Be thou still my strength and shield*?** 

Crocus: **Song is also a powerful nerve 
stimulant. Stammering, of which there are 
said to be over four hundred thousand cases in 
your own country, is a nervous trouble. Emo- 
tion, fear, anger, embarrassment, all increase 
this difficulty and in many cases entirely ac- 
count for it. All stammerers can sing without 
hinderance from their infirmity, and thus the 
start is made toward overcoming it entirely. 
From this beginning in expressing the thoughts 
in songs of praise the mind is helped, the nerv- 
ous condition is counteracted, confidence is 

[184 



THE CHARIOT OF GLADNESS 

aroused, and the foundation of a stable control 
of the organs of speech is laid.*' 

Man : **Wonderful ! But as I think of it, 
other infirmities, into which very many of us 
mortals occasionally fall, often may be driven 
away by a song of the Kingdom. I speak of 
the infirmities of a sharp tongue, a scowling 
face, a lowering look, and impatient actions." 

Crocus: *'You speak truly. But you 
will find that you will not want to sing under 
such conditions. You will need to will to do 
so. But to do this is the very height of wis- 
dom. Oftentimes, too, the spiritual depression 
that comes through physical weariness can be 
dispelled by a song. Our very world is 
founded on praise. Your life is abundant or 
lacking in power according to the sufficiency or 
deficiency of that feeling whose natural ex- 
pression is in songs of thanksgiving. The 
Psalmist commands, saying, * Praise ye the 
Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our 
God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.' " 

Man : "Manifestly, this means that we are 

185] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

to do it even if we do not feel in the mood for 
a carol, 'trampling under foot,' as John Wesley 
says, *that enthusiastic doctrine, that we are not 
to do good unless our hearts be free to it.* " 

Crocus : "That man used his will to drive 
on with. And the world is richer in both songs 
and salvation because he lived." 

Man : "The other day as I passed a black- 
smith-shop I was arrested by a burst of vocal 
music from within. Stepping in, I enjoyed it 
to the end of the fourth verse, for the singer 
had a magnificent bass voice, and when the 
grimy smith had finished the song I said, *You 
seem to be happy. Things must be going pros- 
perously with you?' *Well, hardly,' said the 
man at the forge. *Then what are you singing 
for?' I demanded, wonderingly. Tor the very 
reason that they look so black. Any fool can 
sing when the sun shines. I sing to keep away 
the blues where ordinarily you would expect a 
chap to swear.' " 

Crocus: "The seven Greek sages collec- 
tively could not have given a better answer 
than that. Singing a song, even when one does 

[186 



THE CHARIOT OF GLADNESS 

not feel like it and does it wilfully, oftentimes 
brings the peace that song is supposed to be 
the expression of. That is to say, uttering 
a song of praise, even when there is no praise 
in the heart, will generate the spirit of praise. 
If you are discouraged, it is because you have 
been looking down. Look up, once, even 
though you have to lift great weights to do so, 
and an angel will drop a song on your lips, in 
uttering which, a responsive melody will awake 
in your soul and the victory has been won.*' 

Man : "A stage-driver was in the habit of 
whipping one of his horses at a particular point 
in the road in the climb of a steep hill. A 
passenger who had seen this repeated many 
times finally asked the driver the reason for it. 
*You see that big white rock, over there?* said 
he, *Well that off horse always used to shy at 
that, but I concluded that I would give him 
something else to think about, and so I touch 
him with the whip and that takes his mind off 
shying.* Does this illustrate something of your 
meaning. Crocus?** 

Crocus: "Splendidly. Men as well as 

187J 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 



horses need gentle hints for their own good, and 
men are oftentimes as foolish as horses. They 
shy at providences that have within them 
nothing but blessing. But whip your lips to 
sing when the clouds are dark, and see how 
soon the sun will shine." 
Man: 

"'Behind a frowning providence 
He hides a smiling face.*** 

Crocus: "You men do one thing that I 
do not like, — lay snares to capture song-birds 
for your cages. But I give you free license to 
entrap the seraphs of praise whom you wish to 
dwell in your hearts, by any possible contriv- 
ance of musical chords, or concord of sweet 
sounds. Goods thoughts are borne on the 
wings of song and, meanwhile, the climb up the 
hill of difficulty is made easier. When you 
are depressed try singing snatches of the 
Hallelujah Chorus. 




Hallelujah.' HalleluJahlHalloluJalxIHalleluJalxJ hallelujah! 

[188 



HEALING BY-PATHS 



And the stately KKes stand 

Fair in the silvery light, 
Like saintly vestals, pale in prayer; 
Their purple breath sanctifies the air. 

As its fragrance fills the night. 

Julia C R. Dorr: *'A Red Rose.' 



XVIII 




HEALING BY-PATHS 

[AN : **I have just come home 
from the wonderfully beauti- 
ful Etag Nedlog Park, Cro- 
cus, where I took my babies 
for an outing. I think I en- 
joyed it as much as the children, and my 
wife says that I acted like a boy of ten let 
out of school. But what delightful lanes 
and by-paths there are, leading off from the 
main thoroughfares, wherein one may wander 
and find shady dells and restful nooks to com- 
fort a jaded mind." 

Crocus: "As the by-paths leading off 
from life's dusty highway are a blessing, so may 
it be said of the world's by-products, both 
physical and spiritual. The by-products of our 
great industries are coming to be recognized, 
in many cases, as of more value than the main 
191] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

product. Coal-tar, which but a Httle time ago 
was considered but an offensive waste product 
in the distillation of gas from coal, at present 
constitutes the source of innumerable substances 
of the greatest value to both science and the 
industries. Indeed, carbolic acid has become 
so necessary to the medical world that this pro- 
duct of a by-product in itself is worth more than 
the main product is in its illuminating value. 
And when you take into account the coal-tar 
colors, the aniline and alizarine dyes, a long 
list of them, a wonder-worker is found. Think 
of the spread of disease that carbolic acid has 
halted. Consider the dull gray world that the 
coal-tar colors have lightened up. And these 
are but two of the supplemental products of a 
single by-product." 

Man: "Go to the flower, thou thought- 
less; consider her words, and be wise.*' 

Crocus: "But in the spiritual realm there 
is yet a more startling discovery. *As Jesus 
passed by' His attention was called to some 
great human need, when His divine remedy 

[192 



HEALING BY-PATHS 



was brought into use to the joy of all concerned. 
*As Jesus passed by* the man born blind was 
given his sight, the widow of Nain's son was 
raised from the dead, the centurion's servant 
was healed, the sick of the palsy took up his bed 
and walked, the dumb man spake, the disciples 
were called and the multitude fed from a lad*s 
meager lunch. Can it be possible that the 
greater part of the miracles of the Master were 
performed as a sort of by-product?" 

Man : "So it would seem." 

Crocus: "Is it possible that the supreme 
mission of life may become, in its practical out- 
come of the moment, but a subsidiary thing, and 
the by-the-way events the real issue? Is it not 
conceivable that the real purpose of existence 
may be buttressed and strengthened by the in- 
cidents that are made pregnant with blessing by 
the way? May not Calvary have been more 
potent in its redemptive qualities because Jesus 
left the main trunk-line of His high destiny and 
entered the side streets of Nain and Jericho, 
*and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon* ? 



193] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

May not you average mortals give a more 
healthful report of life as you pass by, and yet 
not block your life mission?'* 

Man : "Who can doubt it?" 

Crocus : "The race is said to be living the 
pace that kills. The whole face of the globe 
is being changed by human activity. Projects 
of startling proportions are being initiated every 
hour. You circumnavigated the globe but a 
few days ago : you shouted ten thousand leagues 
under the sea, by means of a wire trumpet, the 
day following; to-day you are receiving mes- 
sages from the uttermost parts of the earth and 
sea with no apparent agent or instrumentality 
but the wind ; to-morrow you will be flying with 
better wings than the eagles own ; the next day 
you will converse with the Martians; and the 
day after you will, doubtless, take that trip 
to the moon which a slight error in reckoning 
defeated for your boyhood friend and idol.'* 

Man : " *They have sought out many in- 
ventions* is the calm verdict of the wise man.*' 

Crocus: "The writer whom you were 
reading the other day interested me where he 

[194 



HEALING BY-PATHS 



said: *The rate of increase of the scope of 
practical control over nature accelerates so that 
no one can trace the limits; one may even fear 
that the being of man may be crushed by his 
own powers, that his fixed nature as an organ- 
ism may not prove adequate to stand the strain 
of the ever increasing, tremendous functions, 
which his intellect will more and more enable 
him to wield. He may drown in his wealth 
like a child in a bath-tub, who has turned on the 
water and who cannot turn it off.* '* 

Man: "But, as a friend once said to 
Samuel Johnson, *I, too, have sometimes tried 
to be a philosopher, but cheerfulness would 
break in!* '* 

Crocus: "You can say this because you 
have imbibed the calm view of the Gospel and 
know what it has to give as a preventive of 
commercial suicide. Without that, self-destruc- 
tion is not only possible but probable. But with 
the wisdom that cometh down from above you 
will learn how to adapt the old convolutions 
of the brain to the new gyres of the external 
brain of man as seen in the external world, 

195] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

When one has built a great drive-wheel to a 
monster machine the temptation is for the cre- 
ative mind to stay with the engine, revolve 
with the wheel. He cannot get away from 
the primitive notion that the machine eternally 
needs his presence. But here you must raise 
your everlasting no. If you have built your 
mind into a giant turbine you will say to that 
mind, crystallized into steel: *Now do your 
work and do not trouble me. I have other 
things to attend to. My largest task is the per- 
fecting of my own enginery. See to it that you 
do not bring your hydraulic pressure to bear up- 
on me to drown my personality instead of your 
own parts. I must not have water on my brain 
as you.' And I think I hear the dignified an- 
swer of the great steel giant: *You attend to 
your task, O maker of me, and I will lift my 
burdens and yours, alone.' " 

Man: "I am following you. Lead on 
now into the restful shadows of the by-path." 

Crocus: "But the command of the giant 
machine is impossible of execution unless there 
shall be some by-path into which we may stroll. 

[196 



HEALING BY-PATHS 



No man can walk always upon the main 
traveled highway of industry and toil without 
his brain becoming paralyzed with the inter- 
minable lengths which stretch out ahead. He 
must ever and again take the trails that lead 
out into the restful woods and by the cooling 
brooks. * *Tis looking downward makes one 
dizzy,* and the round of toil has the downward 
look. A man needs to look away from self 
and human products up to the word and works 
and person of God. He must bathe his soul 
in that philosophy of the Eternal which de- 
veloped our' great fathers and mothers and 
which the Nazarene founded for just such an 
age as this. This philosophy of God great men 
have named *The World Religion,* and it is 
well named.** 

Man: "Still, the way is lined with stores 
and factories, but I see the woods yonder.** 

Crocus: "Jesus taught that one might 
have the consciousness of the Heavenly Father*s 
presence, and that is sufficient to calm any tem- 
pest and bring peace to the soul. The knowl- 
edge that *the high and lofty One that inhab- 

197] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

itelh eternity* has interests in the son of man 
sufficient to visit him, has wondrous power. 
The realizing effect in practical experience is 
transforming to the point of revolution. The 
heart of flesh for the heart of stone is no mere 
imagery. The results are measured only in the 
scale of character. The product of this true 
religion is joy, though this does not exhaust the 
catalogue, since the fruit is of many varieties, 
and the by-product is a healthy body, a clear 
brain, success in business, and prosperity in the 
home." 

Man : "Ah, now we have come where the 
flowers are blooming and the living waters go 
singing between their leafy banks." 

Crocus: **I repeat, the by-product of 
Jesus' gospel is wholesomeness, health of mind 
and body. I do not mean to say that joy will 
restore a person who has wasted his substance 
in riotous living, his body in riotous labor, any 
more than it will restore a maniac to sanity. 
Oil will save a machine from wear if it is used 
from the beginning, but if you wait until it is all 

L198 



HEALING BY-PATHS 



but worn out before the application is made, it 
cannot, of course, make it new again. The oil 
of joy from the beginning, in a normal human 
setting, will give long life and a healthy one. 
But if its use is deferred until late it cannot be 
expected to more than make the old machine go 
less haltingly. However, when the joy of the 
Lord has restored the sick soul, there is a won- 
derful change in the sick body. The healthy 
mind, as it thinks pure and sweet, joyful and 
loving, thoughts will clear out the filth from the 
soul, and to a greater or less extent from the 
body as well, even as the water turned in to 
flush the sewer cleanses and purifies that under- 
ground highway." 

Man : ** *Oh, that men would praise the 
Lord for His goodness, and His wonderful 
works to the children of men.' " 

Crocus: *'Joy brings health of body and 
mind wherever it can reach. I do not mean 
great excitement ; that is not joy but intoxication. 
Moderation is the foundation of joy every- 
where." 



199] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Man : ** *In returning and rest shall ye be 
saved; in quietness and confidence shall be 
your strength.' " 

Crocus: "Wise men do not risk invest- 
ments that insure twenty per cent. Large prom- 
ises are of doubtful value anywhere. Your 
brilliant Emerson tells of a witty orator who 
likened political promises to Western roads 
which start out well, with broad thoroughfares 
and beautiful shade-trees upon either side, but 
which grow narrower and narrower and finally 
turn into a squirrel path and run up a tree. 
The promises of physical gratification have 
similar characteristics. But the soul is more 
veracious, and you who have learned your les- 
son seek your compensations in the realm of 
the commonplace. The joy of the simple life 
of love and usefulness is great and lasting." 

Man : "In the spirit of your teaching, with 
the program of the Galilean as mine, I feel that 
I shall be able to meet the fierce conflict of my 
day and not fail, that I shall have strength to 
'run through a troop and leap over a wall.* '* 

Crocus: "Whoever denies that the chief 

[200 



HEALING BY-PATHS 



content of the Gospel is joy has forgotten the 
prophet's commission to the Master, *to comfort 
all that mourn, to give beauty for ashes, and oil 
of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise 
for the spirit of heaviness.' " 



201] 



THE MAGIC OF CONFIDENCE 



Hope smiled when your nativity was cast, 
Children of summer! 

Wordsworth: "FlotDers on the Top of the Pillars at the 
Entrance of the Cave.'* 



XIX 




THE MAGIC OF CONFIDENCE 

CROCUS: "There is a spirit 
that is native to the flowers 
which I find lacking in most 
mortals. You call it confi- 
dence. It is a mighty power, 
with wonder-working attributes. You may 
prove its genuineness by the way it faces danger 
and death." 

Man: **I have heard about this. It is 
affected by the immature and the young. I 
have not found it often commended, as I re- 
member, ty the wisest teachers." 

Crocus: "You mistake me. I do not 
mean *cocksureness,' that narrow-horizoned at- 
tribute of small minds and ignorant souls. Such 
are always quite sure of every step of the way 
and point out proofs and demonstrations with- 
out number. *Of such turn aside.' Flee youth- 
205] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

ful *sure philosophy.' *The wayfaring men, 
though fools, shall not err* in finding the way of 
faith to God, but the traveler, though a sage, 
'shall not by searching find out God.' It may 
be easy to put yourself into the hands of your 
Heavenly Father for Him to know you, but to 
get God into the hands of a man so he can know 
Him is a matter for another mold. Job had 
much to say about failing to find God in the 
whole circle of experience, but when he had 
vainly searched on all sides he could come back 
to the sublime statement, *But He knoweth the 
way that I take.' That is confidence." 

Man: "I begin to see something of your 
meaning." 

Crocus : " *The man who knows' is not 
necessarily infallible. The greatest men, in the 
details of life, are not positively certain. They 
are following after, if by any means they may 
apprehend. They are not yet made perfect in 
knowledge. There is a vast difference between 
confidence and *cocksureness.' The one is like 
a full flask without a stopple into which the 

[206 



THE MAGIC OF CONFIDENCE 

water is always pouring so that it continually 
overflows and the contents is continually being 
renewed. The other is like an empty bottle 
closely corked so that nothing may enter it. 
The first is humble that he knows so little. The 
second is proud because he knows so much!" 

Man: "I would not be *cocksure/ but I 
would I could be confident." 

Crocus: **When Jesus returned from the 
mountain of transfiguration He reproved the 
disciples for their unbelief. *If ye have faith 
as a grain of mustard seed,' said He, *ye shall 
say unto this mountain, Remove hence to 
yonder place; and it shall remove.' I am con- 
vinced that the Master did not intend His dis- 
ciples to organize a mountain-moving corpora- 
tion. He was not on earth to initiate great 
engineering enterprises. Men had erected the 
pyramids before He came, by the toil of their 
hand, and they would build monuments to 
death, after He had gone, by the sweat of their 
brow. He was not to make life easier so far as 
work is concerned. He was not entering the field 

207] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

of labor-saving machinery. His declaration was 
simply that men needed life, and if their life was 
measured by the size of a mustard seed, yet, 
because it was a living thing, to pit it against a 
mountain of dead matter meant that it would 
conquer. In the battle between the mustard 
seed and the mountain the mountain is out- 
flanked at the start.'* 

Man : "And was there not some sad irony, 
too, in the Master's words?" 

Crocus: "Doubtless. But the real 
thought is here. The life which begins with 
a genuine consciousness of the presence of God 
in the world, He likens to the smallest of com- 
mon seeds. This seed the theologians call con- 
version. But when it has germinated and grown 
into a great tree so that the birds of the air build 
their nests in the branches — or, in other words, 
when faith fills the whole sky like the branches 
of a tree — then it has become confidence, a 
settled and established conviction of the cer- 
tainty and stability of God's supreme control in 
the whole order of existence." 

[208 



THE MAGIC OF CONFIDENCE 

Man: "Doubtless it was in this frame of 
mind that Browning sang 

'God *s in his heaven — 
All 's right with the world.' " 

Crocus: **It must be so. Your confident 
one dares venture out beyond the limits of his 
vision, not recklessly, which means upon his 
own responsibility, but because he is sure of 
God. He is sure of his God and in the light of 
His countenance he has found himself. His 
soul is united within itself, every faculty obedi- 
ent to its ruler, all the attributes harmonious, 
the whole being a unit complete in the full self- 
grasp of conscious personality so that in any 
crisis it might be said of him, *He is all there.* 
To such a one Confidence says, *Whatsoever 
you desire for good is yours. You have but to 
stretch forth your hand and take it.' The world 
would have perished long ago had it not been 
for the noble souls who calmly demanded of 
life those things which would benefit the race. 
Literature is full of allusions to men, and 
women too, who stamped their age with a calm 

209] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

belief in the foundations of the universe and 
then met death with a clear-eyed faith, without 
a quiver of fear, aye, often with smiling raillery. 
Such was Socrates, who laughed death to scorn; 
such was Sir Thomas More, who on the scaf- 
fold sported with the ax that was to take his 
life ; and such were Dorigen and her noble hus- 
band, Sophocles, the Duke of Athens, of whom 
his conqueror and executioner, Martius, could 
say: 

*This admirable duke, 
With his disdain of fortune and of death, 
Captived himself, hath captivated me, 
And though my arm has ta'en his body here. 
His soul hath subjugated Martius* soul 
By Romulus, he is all soul, I think ; 
He hath no flesh, and spirit can not be gyved; 
Then we have vanquished nothing; he is free. 
And Martius walks now in captivity.'" 

Man: **0 God, help me, as others have, 
only to know Thee, and then all else may be 
but driftwood. With my soul anchored in 
Thee, nothing shall make me afraid, nothing 
shall be impossible.'* 

[210 



THE LANGUAGE OF TWO WORLDS 



Bright and glorious is that revelation, 
Written all over this great world of ours; 

Making evident our own creation, 

In these stars of earth, these golden flowers. 

In all places, then, and in all seasons. 

Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings. 

Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, 
How akin they are to human things. 

And with childlike, credulous affection 
We behold their tender buds expand ; 

Emblems of our own great resurrection, 
Emblems of the bright and better land. 

Longfellon): ** Flowers.' 




XX 

THE LANGUAGE OF TWO WORLDS 

CROCUS: "The conclusion 
of the whole matter, son of 
man, is that hfe is to be glad. 
While there are, doubtless, 
dismal situations enough, the 
glory of man is that God could speak through 
him and say to all his fellows, *Be not over- 
come of evil, but overcome evil with good.* 
Being sad because you have fallen on perilous 
times does not help to lay a rope for wrong or 
build a temple for justice. But being glad will 
at least keep the fire burning in your own heart ; 
it will do more, it will drive away the gloom 
from a whole neighborhood." 

Man: "You will have done much more 
than this. Crocus, for I expect your soul-lighten- 
ing words to bless a continent." 



213] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Crocus: "I will have but handed on to 
you what was given to me. But hear this ex- 
perience. The Philippian jail in the first cen- 
tury A. D., was not a place where a company 
of men would choose to give a sacred concert. 
But Paul and Silas did not stop to compute the 
height of prison walls or the weight of dungeon 
doors. To them any place was the ante-room 
of heaven. So they *sang praises unto God; 
and the prisoners heard them.' These were 
strange sounds, no doubt, to the broken-spirited 
captives cowed by their shackles. But there 
were men in that prison that night whom no 
chains could curb. The jailer might put them 
in the inner prison and make their feet fast in 
the stocks, and they might well understand that 
the whole town was against them and the high- 
est authority had ordered their incarceration; 
but what did they care ? Their business was to 
serve God and rejoice at any turn in the road, 
and they did. Their souls were not bound and 
their God was not in captivity, so the song that 
broke forth from their lips was strong enough to 
burst their prison walls." 

[214 



LANGUAGE OF TWO WORLDS 

Man: **I never weary of hearing that 
story. I would that all men were like these." 

Crocus: "Their motto was 'Rejoice ever- 
more. Pray without ceasing. In everything 
give thanks.* I doubt not that any who are true 
in life to such a motto will duplicate their ex- 
periences. But you must live the Pauline life, 
which was his greatest sermon, and have the 
Pauline faith, which was his greatest asset — 
he had no other property ! — if you would be a 
man before whom prison walls shall crumble. 
Some men have demonstrated the fact that 
hardship is only the shell of life, for the beetling 
walls of a prison on that night of nights inclosed 
a corner of heaven.** 

Man: **If men would risk as much to dis- 
cover joy as they do in their search for gold, 
there would scarcely be an unhappy mortal on 
earth.'* 

Crocus: "And yet there is no risk to be 
run. Everywhere there are opportunities to 
find joy. Shared sorrows lighten two hearts, and 
a partnership in dispelling gloom is a universal 
necessity. If I may change the figure, joy is the 

215] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

language of heaven and eternity, but you have 
been given the task to learn it while you measure 
your lives by the tick of the clock. Unless you 
wish to be dumb there, you would better learn 
this language here." 

Man : "I have heard much of speaking in 
tongues, but from what you have told me I had 
rather speak in the vernacular of joy than mas- 
ter all the dialects of earth, or be given miracu- 
lous power to speak them." 

Crocus : "Therein are you wise. But list- 
en. A negro who had been converted through 
the work of a missionary in his native land met 
another member of the black race as he landed 
from the steamer at Port Said after coming up 
the Suez Canal. They were from different 
parts of the Dark Continent, and neither spoke 
the other's language. But the first saw some- 
thing in the other's face which made him feel 
that he had found a brother, and putting out 
his hand he said, *Hallelujah!' The other, 
grasping it while a broad smile rippled over his 
whole face, responded, *Amen!' They knew 
not a word of each other's earthly speech, 

[216 



LANGUAGE OF TWO WORLDS 

neither did they realize that they had been in- 
troduced to each other by means of ancient 
Hebrew, a dead language, but they did know 
that each had discovered, independently of the 
other and in far separated countries, the uni- 
versal language of God; and they had that day 
proved its universality." 

Man; *'These men may have black skins, 
but if they can speak the language of heaven I 
think they will get in." 

Crocus: "The Gospel of the Lord Christ 
is the World Religion, because it has within it 
the universal element. *He hath set eternity 
in their heart.* That state of mind and heart 
which is a product of the Gospel and which is 
described when we say happiness, blessedness, 
joy, is the earnest of everlasting life. Heaven 
is heaven because of the joy it contains, and the 
coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, 
which we all yearn to see, will bring that joy 
to be the rule and not the exception. 

Man : "But how may I make sure of en- 
tering into the Kingdom of Joy on high?" 

Crocus: "By becoming responsible for 

217J 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the creation of a corner of heaven on a comer 
of the earth. You will know the heavenly lan- 
guage then, and you will make certain of your 
admission by taking some one with you." 

Man: "And may they not enter but by 
two and two?*' 



[218 



THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK 



Hail to the King of Bethlehem, 
Who weareth in his diadem 
The yellow crocus for the gem 
Of his authority! 
Longfellow: **Christus. The Golden Legend.** 



XXI 




THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK 

AN: "Crocus, I feel as 
though I had been on the 
mountain with God, and His 
prophet had been speaking to 
me, making plans with me for 
my eternal building.** 

Crocus: " *And look that thou make it 
after the pattern which was showed thee in the 
mount' ** 

Man: "May I be true to the splendid 
model that has been given me by the master 
spirit of the flowers.'* 

Crocus: "But you will need to use care. 
All about you are to be found unfortunates 
seeking health and happiness, riches and suc- 
cess, without the faintest possibility of their ever 
succeeding. Why? *Do men gather grapes of 
221] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

thorns, or figs of thistles?' Peter has some- 
what to say about men becoming partakers ofi 
the divine nature. This evidently is the clue. 
But your race has been seeking luscious fruit 
among the dead leaves of the dying limbs of a 
decadent trunk. Is it any wonder that they fail 
to find life ? Jesus was very explicit about this 
matter. The most learned doctor among the 
Jews was severely rebuked because he did not 
know the fundamental fact of the life of God 
in man. And what is that fact? That life, as 
it has come to us, is loaded down with animal 
instincts that have outlived their usefulness." 

Man: "Then *the call of the wild' is no 
mere myth or dream?" 

Crocus: "Not at all. There is a pri- 
mordial beast in man. The lower instincts were 
needed in the days of the survival of the fittest, 
when that had reference to physical develop- 
ment, but the foundation having been laid for 
the masterpiece, there is need for something 
more. One comes declaring that this is to be a 
divine lift in life. To the animal nature has 

[222 



THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK 

been added the human mind. Now intellect 
must be supplemented by the divine nature.*' 

Man: "Ah, I see. *Ye must be born 
from above* as ye have been from beneath.** 

Crocus : "This is the foundation stone of 
all human progress. The only way out is for- 
ward; the only way forward is upward; the 
only way upward is Godward, and Godward 
is homeward. Man*s home is on high.'* 

Man : ** *Lead me gently homeward. 
Father.' " 

Crocus: "Here, as everywhere, the 
downward look makes dizzy but the upward 
gaze gives life. The diligent student of life 
who is satisfied simply to drag the bottom of 
human existence for proofs of the truth of the 
upward climb from the depths below loses the 
subtle sense of a higher realm, but he who flies 
his kite to capture flashes of light from heaven 
on spiritual biogenesis, though at the same time 
searching the darkness below, becomes strong- 
souled and far-seeing.'* 

Man: "I follow you. I remember that 

2231 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Darwin confessed with bitter sorrow the decHne 
of his spiritual faculty, while Drummond, as 
eager a student of biology as the other, never 
ceased to look up." 

Crocus: "You have thought that you 
were the first to hear the voice of the flowers, 
but you have not that distinction. Numbers 
of men have heard the pleadings of my fel- 
lows and have come to their relief and helped) 
them to a higher plane. Over in California 
lives one of these remarkable men and he is 
known as the Vizard gardener.' He takes the 
commonest plant and infuses into it something 
of his own intelligence, and forthwith, in place 
of being useless it now becomes one of the utili- 
ties. The thorny cactus of the desert meets this 
master mind on a sunshiny day and, after long, 
protracted interviews with him, reluctantly 
gives up its spines, promises to mend its ways, 
and becomes food for man and beast. The 
transformation was made by man coming down 
to the vegetable kingdom, entering in and leav- 
ing something of himself. Satan's temptation 
of Eve was that if they ate they would become 

[224 



THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK 

gods, since he had climbed out of brutehood 
that way: 

* I of brute human, ye of human gods.' " 

Man: *'But the message of the Gospel is 
not of this complexion." 

Crocus: "Not at all. It is not by feed- 
ing the bodily organism that the transformation 
is made in the real nature of man. It is the 
personal God entering into the kingdom of man 
and transforming it into the higher. This is the 
marvelous power of life. It is always the power 
from above that descends into the lower realm 
and lifts the object of desire into the higher 
country. *The passage from the mineral world 
to the plant or animal world is hermetically 
sealed on the mineral side.* But mysterious 
life has power to break the seal and open the 
door. Life coming down from the flower trans- 
forms the mineral into the gorgeous rose, the 
wax-like lily, or the blood-red carnation. Life 
coming down from the dumb brute transmutes 
the vegetable into the strong-limbed Norman 
draft-horse or swift Arab charger. And though 

225] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

the scientific world says, *The passage from the 
natural world to the spiritual world is hermet- 
ically sealed on the natural side.' " 

Man : "Yet the lion of the tribe of Judah 
hath prevailed to open the seven seals, and the 
Church for these many years has sung a new 
song to Him, saying, *Thou art worthy to take 
the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou 
wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by 
thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, 
and people, and nation ; and hast made us kings 
and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.* " 

Crocus : "You took it from my lips. The 
divine life of the Son of God comes down into 
human hearts, and behold a Paul who was 
called Saul ; a John who was one of the *soon 
angry' brothers; a Peter, the rock, who was 
Simon, the reckless; a Luther, a Wesley, a 
William Taylor, a Jerry McCauley, — all were 
made a blessing who, otherwise, might have 
been a curse." 

Man: "The Germans say that we should 
not go to the second thing first. But I fear that 
we have not been following that good advice." 

[226 



THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK 

Crocus: "First, the stable foundation, if 
the Palace Beautiful is to follow, and the 
foundation is built of God. *By grace are ye 
saved, through faith; and that not of your- 
selves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest 
amy man should boast.* '* 

Man: "And we have been trying to erect 
great stately buildings without this foundation ! 
I doubt if a Voodshed' could be built on the 
foundation some men have been laying!" 

Crocus: "And what is true of throwing 
together a *shack' cannot be false in the con- 
struction of a cathedral. You cannot begin 
covering the roof before you have put in the 
girders. A story once drifted to my ears from 
the street corner down yonder of a man on the 
Atlantic coast who went out, on a very foggy 
morning, to finish the shingling of his barn, and 
before the sun had worn away the mists suffi- 
ciently for him to see what he was doing, he 
had shingled forty feet out on to the fog!" 

Man: "That is a remarkable experience. 
Crocus, and coming from any one but you 
would be taken with a grain of salt!*' 

227] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Crocus : "But there are many of you mor- 
tals who are attempting a like feat in your 
search for peace of mind and health of body; 
seeking to build a roof of happiness without 
anything for it to rest upon except the misty 
fogs of fine phrases and the dreams that are 
born of your fond desires." 



[228 



CLIMBING AND SINGING 



To chase the clouds of life's tempestuous hours, 
To strew its short but weary way with flowers, 
New hopes to raise, new feelings to impart. 
And pour celestial balsam on the heart. 
Thomas Love Peacock' "The Visions of Love^ 




XXII 
CLIMBING AND SINGING 

CROCUS: "This is the last 
morning that I shall be able 
to talk with you, son of man. 
My petals are fast fading and 
I must go. But I have a few 
words more before I close my eyes, a few 
admonitions that I trust you will heed." 

Man: **I grieve that you must go. But I 
praise your Maker and mine that my ears have 
been open to your wonderful story." 

Crocus: **My time draws to a close and 
I must hasten. Listen. The Master is stand- 
ing just over there, just there. Step a little this 
way; that will do. You see Him now. Like 
Life, He too, will not obtrude Himself upon 
any who do not desire His company." 

Man: "But I have invited Him to do the 
work." 
231] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

Crocus: "Very good. Then we know 
that the foundation has been built, and now the 
superstructure must be undertaken. Do not 
expect Him to do the work for you now that 
the firm base has been laid. He is the Master 
Builder and will always be within call to aid 
in the enterprise, but there is much responsibil- 
ity for the workmen. You are now building 
a great temple that is to stand *when the heav- 
ens shall be rolled together as a scroll.' With 
such a task no trivial things should call you 
from your work. Like the godly Nehemiah, 
when anger and pride, when envy and hatred, 
when worry and fear, come trooping to find 
your building site, send messengers to them 
while they are yet a great way off who shall 
speak for you and say, *I am doing a great 
work, so that I cannot come down.' You 
will not surrender to these invaders, nor will 
you allow them to be your associates in the 
enterprise." 

Man : " *Looking unto Jesus' shall be my 
shibboleth." 

Crocus: "The early fathers talked thus. 

[232 



CLIMBING AND SINGING 

To them this was all there was to the Christian 
life. But you, how otherwise you have been 
living. For shame, you have been looking to 
the climate, the landscape, the food of your 
table for happiness and success. These are 
only the result of chemical combinations. And 
is life nothing but a chemical precipitate? 
Does some would-be wise man say that by an- 
alysis a man can be resolved into so much 
H2O, so many parts Ca3(P04)2, so many car- 
bonates, nitrates, and the rest? If this were 
true it had been better that you had never been 
bom, or else been given the form of any beast, 
or bird, or fish, or better yet, of flower. If the 
physical is all, and there is no spiritual realm, 
matter is mind undeveloped and conscience a 
nightmare among your dreams, then there is no 
good or bad, but all is perfectly indifferent. If 
God is not, then man is not, and his loftiest 
ideals are but dust and ashes blown by non- 
existent winds from whirling and burning 
worlds whose fires were never lighted." 

Man : "But there is a spiritual world, there 
is an Almighty God, and I am an immortal 

233] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

soul. He who believes otherwise has to pro- 
duce evidence that can no more be substanti- 
ated than that two and two can be tortured 
into making five." 

Crocus : "And if God is, all else becomes 
fair. When the mind rests back on the eternal 
Father the heart keeps holiday." 

Man : ** *Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace whose mind is stayed on thee/ I know, 

God." 

Crocus : "I cannot conceive of a man be- 
ing wretched who can sing all along the way. 

1 cannot make real the idea of an unsuccessful 
man who is always running over with good 
cheer. I can hardly allow myself to believe 
it possible to find a sick man who has always 
obeyed the command to be filled with joy." 

Man : " *Why art thou cast down, O my 
soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? 
Hope thou in God : for I shall yet praise Him, 
who is the health of my countenance, yea my 
God.' " 

Crocus: "But let me warn you that you 
must not expect everything to be begun, con- 

[234 



CLIMBING AND SINGING 

tinued, and ended before the first day has seen 
its close. It has been reported to me that some 
believe that when a man is what you call con- 
verted, the whole of life is conquered. Is the 
foundation the whole structure? The building 
of character is *a long victory.* While it is true 
'when the fight begins within, a man's worth 
something,* he must prolong that battle through 
his life; never leave growing till the life to 
come. You have been given the secret, you 
have begun to build. Go on in the same way 
and life is won wherever it may find a footing.*' 

Man : *'I am determined so to do, the Lord 
being my helper.'* 

Crocus: "Look up, then, look up and face 
the eternal morning. * *Tis looking downward 
makes one dizzy.* Be not discouraged at the 
slowness of your progress. It was said of your 
Master, *He shall not fail nor be discouraged 
till He hath set judgment in the earth ; and the 
isles shall wait for His law.* ** 

Man: "He failed not and I will not; for 
I must carry His glorious law of liberty and 
love to these waiting isles and continents. Yes, 

235] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

I must carry the message to them for their sake, 
but on my own behalf as well, for if I do not I 
shall have no cup of joy for myself. God takes 
the cup out of the hand that would hold it to 
one's own lips always. I must see to it, also, 
that the goblet is filled with joy and not with 
something else, some baser thing, or what is the 
use of carrying it at all ? But if I have real joy, 
it is joy to the world and to my soul as well. 
And why should I not be glad?" 
Crocus {faintly and far off) : 

"'The king of love my Shepherd is. 
Whose goodness faileth never; 
I nothing lack if I am His, 
And He is mine forever.* " 

Man: "And He is mine as well. Then 
be gone, fear and doubt ! Off with you, wolves 
of worry! Distrust, sadness, gloom, and mel- 
ancholy, leave me, get you gone, go! Stand 
not on the order of your going, but depart at 
once ! Come, angels of peace, seraphs of song, 
messengers of joy, ambassadors of love, come 
and dwell with me. The twelve broad gates 
of my soul shall ever be wide open for you. 

[236 



CLIMBING AND SINGING 

Enter, friends of my youth, enter and abide. 
And now that you have come I will never let 
you go again. No, you shall ever dwell with 
me. My home must always hold you. And 
with you here I shall never more be lonely. All 
my friends will now be glad to visit me, for 
with joy they, too, would be on familiar terms. 
How rich life is when one has such company! 
How good God is when my soul is glad ! Then 
I will always be glad, so that the light of His 
countenance may ever be lifted up upon me. 
Let those who are ready to perish look down. 
I will look up." 

In my ecstasy I had turned away from the 
Crocus and now I turned to talk again to the 
one I had learned to love so dearly. As I 
stepped forward to speak I was conscious of a 
strange feeling of loss. I looked at the flower 
and found that the petals were all withered 
and dead. "The Crocus has sung its swan 
song,** said I. **But its story has renewed my 
soul." I moved to leave the garden, and just 
then a wonderful voice reached my ear, faint, 
but sweet as distant silver bells. Gradually I 

237] 



THE STORY THE CROCUS TOLD 

could distinguish words from the music which 
I managed finally to build into this sentence: 
"Your prophet has gone, but the prophet's 
Master is by your side. He will lead you 
safely — surely — home. 



[238 



JAN 3 1910 



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